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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28387224">What your love can do</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferosorio/pseuds/Ferosorio'>Ferosorio</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Blessings on blessings [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hawaii Five-0 (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alpha Steve McGarrett, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Come Marking, Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, Explicit Sexual Content, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Knotting, M/M, Mating Bites, Mating Bond, Mating Rituals, Omega Danny "Danno" Williams, Past Rachel Edwards/Danny "Danno" Williams, Past Steve McGarrett/Catherine Rollins, Scenting, Vaginal Fingering, mentions of child death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:29:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>21,979</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28387224</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferosorio/pseuds/Ferosorio</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"I don’t even know you and you’re already on top of me trying to control my life,” Danny complains. </p><p>Steve can't help but snort. </p><p>John McGarrett has been attacked, forcing Steve to return to Hawaii to take care of his father and his pack. He wasn't prepared to meet his true mate in the process.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Blessings on blessings [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079039</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>299</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What your love can do</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>First of all, I want to thank Casey for er help. You're awesome and I'm really thankful for your work!</p><p>I think after the big bang fic I got used to writing long stuff, so here's the first part of, what I hope, it's a fun series about how Danny and Steve meet, mate, and have a bunch of kiddos. I hope you like it and enjoy it. Let me know what you think and what would you like to see in the next one! </p><p>I can't promise when the next one is going to be, but there will be, I promise. </p><p>Besides that, please remember that English is not my first language so be gentle with me.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Part I</p><p> </p><p>In many ways, his pack is really similar to others on the island. The frontiers of their territory are well defined and defended; they try to be nice with neighbors packs and friend packs; they run with the Full Moon in the Sacred Woods and bathe in the Great Ocean with the New Moon; they get traditional tattoos in the traditional way; they have their own group of highly respected elders; they even partake in the harvest of the holy flowers at the bottom of the volcanoes in the big island, something that is really old fashioned and it doesn’t have any real use anymore, at least not since stores and local botanist plant them in easier to access places, if Steve’s being objective. </p><p>But in other aspects, his pack is really unique. And he loves that. </p><p>Steve’s dad is the Pack Leader. He’ll say he’s the Pack Alpha, as tradition dictates to call the head of the pack, but that’s the thing: Steve’s dad is an omega. An omega with two mates. Steve’s pack has survived a coup staged with the help of his dad’s alpha mate, Steve’s mom, Doris. Said coup didn’t work because the pack -  the main clans, and the little families - refused to accept Yao Fat as a leader and, in an act that is taught in the Pack-Sunday-School, <em>all the pack</em> shifted to their animal forms and went into the ocean and didn’t come back into the land until Yao Fat and Doris left the territory. Steve was too little to remember, but there’s a picture of little wolf Steve strapped to his dad’s wolf back on the beach. </p><p>His pack is also known to be kind to haoles and to welcome them easily. Some packs, especially the ones that had many big old clans, tended to be less accepting of people from the mainland </p><p>Steve loves his pack, he’s proud of being part of it, he’s proud to be the heir, and he works hard every day to grow stronger to be the perfect leader for them. Both him and his sister Mary (born five years after the coup, sired by his dad’s beta mate, Joe), had to participate in an ancient ritual so the elders and the gods could determine who will be the perfect future leader. Since that day, he takes the role seriously. </p><p>In short, Steve belongs to a pack he loves, to a clan he respects deeply, has friends that are loyal to death and, if his teachers and officials are honest, he’s on his way up the ranks of the Navy doing the work he loves. </p><p>The only thing Steve doesn’t have is a mate. But he doesn’t care about that, he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander two months ago, he’s in charge of his team, and he might or might not have saved his country and continent a few times. But he can neither confirm nor deny that. </p><p>He used to have a girlfriend, or a friend with benefits, a beautiful beta called Catherine. She was also part of the Navy and he met her when he was working with Intelligence. Steve knew Catherine liked him and by a lot, she wanted to be his mate, wanted to belong to him. But Steve wasn’t there yet, he didn’t feel like that for her. Later, he realized that Catherine didn’t want to mate and belong to <em>him</em>, but just wanted to be mated and to belong to someone who could give that back to her. It still hurt when Catherine found Billy, they weren’t true mates but they clicked, they mated anyway. Even if his inner alpha got a little bit sad, Steve knew he couldn’t love Catherine, at least not like that, not like she needed, and that made him sad. If he couldn’t love someone like Catherine, perhaps he wasn’t cut out for that kind of love. Maybe his fate was the Navy, SEAL team six, and the work with his pack. </p><p>Everything changes one fateful morning when he receives an emergency call. His dad has been attacked, someone had tried to kill him in his house and now John was hospitalized and Joe, overcome with anger and fear, had put every bit of security he could around the hospital. The beta even managed to inform the Governor of the state of the issue. </p><p>Strings were pulled and, in two hours, he was on his way to Oahu. </p><p>When he arrived, the person who was expecting Steve surprised him. So much that his hand instinctively went to his gun. </p><p>“It’s good to see your instincts are as sharp as always, Steven.” Wo Lukela was standing there, sharp in a tailored suit. “We need them more than ever.”</p><p>Wo Lukela, the biological son of Yao Fat and <em>Steve’s </em>biological alpha-mother Doris (and later adopted by Duke and Nalani Lukela when Yao Fat and Doris disappeared from the face of the earth three decades ago) had all the potential to be a psycho: eyes too big, little to no friends, lots of money and access to guns. But the Lukelas had done such a good job raising him that the only thing he had was the weird stance and cold eyes. Under other laws, the ones that didn’t apply to shifters, they would be brothers, but they were never raised like that. Maybe in another lifetime, Wo could have been a serious threat to Steve, trying to take the control of the pack out of his hands, maybe killing him in a weird sense of revenge. But it seemed like the only thing Wo Lukela wanted to annihilate was the Stock Exchange and every golf course in the world. </p><p>Even if he wasn’t a real threat, Steve never liked him, and it seemed that even if they shared some genes, Wo never cared about him too much either. </p><p>“What do you mean?” Steve asks. Wo Lukela guides him to a car that’s waiting in the hangar. The driver is one of Steve’s pack members, of the Kelly-Kalakaua clan, so he knows he’s safe. </p><p>“I have every reason to think that Doris Shelbourn tried to kill your father, Steven.” </p><p><em>Shit, </em>Steve thinks. </p><p>“Why? I thought she and Yao wanted to disappear.”</p><p>Wo Lukela has a weird sense of respect for Steve’s dad; when Wo was born and later abandoned, everything in the shifter law supported John to just kill the pup, but the leader refused. John took care that Wo had a family and made sure that no one in the pack discriminated against him. So Steve thinks that Wo believes is his moment to thank John McGarrett for not killing him all those years ago by trying to find out who tried to kill the older omega. </p><p>“HPD has a newly arrived haole detective taking care of this case. Chin Ho was livid that someone with no experience with our pack was working on it. So he did some digging.”</p><p>“Chin Ho? As in Chin Ho Kelly who was my dad’s old partner? From the Kelly-Kalakaua pack?” Steve asks. </p><p>Wo nods. </p><p>“I thought something happening to my father would call for someone more experienced in shifter law of our pack rather than a new detective from the mainland. That’s what surprises you?” Steve asks.</p><p>“The governor insisted. She said that HPD members that are part of the pack or the shifter unit are too invested in John McGarrett, that they won’t be objective. What surprised me, and it’s the reason why I am here, it’s <em>who</em> did the attack. I’m sure you’re familiar with the Hesse brothers?”</p><p>Steve feels a cold shiver run down his spine. Some part of him knew that what happened with Anton Hesse two weeks ago wouldn’t go without a scratch. But he thought that Victor Hesse wouldn’t take revenge with his own hands and directly with Steve, that what happened with his brother would take some time to get to him. But he should have known better. What happened to Anton, happened under Steve’s watch, so technically it is his fault.  </p><p>“It’s classified,” Steve replies, and it seems that’s answer enough. </p><p>“Surveillance cameras caught Victor Hesse around John’s house and the Pack Center. I suspect he got on the island through a contraband shipment that I have tracked to, what I believe, is related to Yao Fat’s newest identity. Hesse got into your house using the old codes of the garage, and I know for a fact that shifter law only allows members of the clan to have those. Joe was at Pearl during the attack, Mary Ann was working at Morty Whitener’s house, and you were in an undisclosed location. There was only one person who knew those codes.”</p><p>Steve nods again, SEAL mind kicking in full mode. He’s going to fix this, and he’s going to deal with the Hesse brothers one last time. No more chances. </p><p>They park in front of the hospital, the driver quickly leaves his seat and opens one of the doors.</p><p>“I’m on it,” he assures Wo Lukela, and the other man smiles at him.</p><p>
  <strong>┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓</strong>
</p><p>John is in an induced coma, sleeping peacefully and connected to, what it seems like,  hundreds of cables and beeping machines. At the feet of the bed rests Joe in his wolf form, protecting his mate. He doesn’t shift when Steve enters the room, but he looks at him and woofs softly. Steve gets closer to him and Joe licks his hand like he’s making sure it’s really him, and he sniffs him a little bit longer. Maybe he wants to leave some clan scent on Steve. After all, he must smell like scent blockers and the cleaning supplies they use at the base. </p><p>Steve looks at his dad, unconscious in the hospital bed, really pale and unaware of everything that’s happening. </p><p>He looks older and really weak, and that’s not a word Steve feels comfortable using to describe his dad. Maybe John McGarrett wasn’t the best dad in the world but he was a strong, fearless leader. After Doris tried to take control of the pack and left, he wasn’t the same, but he cared deeply for the people of his pack and the island in general. As a father, he was very distant and a little cold, but he always took care of them, providing and teaching them everything he thought necessary and important in life. Besides, John always found ways to show them that he loved them, even if he was repressed and didn’t know how to show emotions, Steve can relate to that. Joe used to say that it was a common thread in the McGarrett men, that they weren't really good at the feeling department.</p><p>He touches his father's face, delicately, and then, in a show of deep intimacy, he touches John’s forehead with his own. </p><p>“You’ll get better, and I will find every single person who was behind this. I promise, dad,” he whispers, and Joe whines subtly in the background. Steve can’t even imagine how it feels when your mate is hurt. “I mean it, Uncle Joe, I’ll make sure he gets the justice he deserves.” </p><p>The man in wolf form nods once, and curls around John’s feet tightly. </p><p>Steve spends five more minutes with his dad in silence, but when his feet start to fidget he knows his own wolf is eager to start and investigate, to get to the bottom of this issue and bite as many necks as he’s allowed by the pack law. </p><p>He says goodbye to his dad and Joe, telling him he’ll be staying in the house. Joe just looks at him, suspiciously, but he doesn’t make a noise or shift back. Outside, in the corridor, a woman is waiting for him. She’s a shifter, but not a wolf or a whale, Steve can’t pinpoint what she is or where he knows her, because her face is vaguely familiar.</p><p>“Commander McGarrett, I’m Governor Jameson,” she introduces herself. </p><p><em>Ah</em>, Steve thinks, remembering. He had met Pat Jameson when she was just some low ranked politician who liked to meet with his dad and other pack leaders of Oahu and the other islands. </p><p>“I’m sorry about your father, Commander. I would like to assure you that the state of Hawaii is doing everything to catch whoever did this.” </p><p>“It’s good to hear that,” Steve replies curtly. He doesn’t have time to play nice with politicians, not when there’s so much to do. “But, if you’ll excuse me, ma’am, there’s a lot of issues I have to take care of  now I’m back on the island.” </p><p>“I understand your time is precious, but along the line of what I told you I have a proposition for you,” the Governor says, touching his arm and preventing him from moving. Steve suppresses the instinct of growling at her and biting her hand off. “Situations like this are a threat to all our territory, we can’t let that happen, we can’t let crime and fear control our people. And I know you’re a man who’ll take care of that, who’s <em>capable</em> of doing the job.” </p><p>One of the things Steve never liked about being the son of a leader, was all the political talk. They never got straight to the point, and they used big and fancy words instead of saying what they really wanted. </p><p>“What are you saying, Governor?” Steve pushes. </p><p>“I’m offering you immunity and means to find who did this to your father and a bunch of other criminals who are contaminating our island. I want a task force who can work with shifters and non-shifters, and I want you to run it.”</p><p>Steve blinks. He wasn’t expecting that. But it doesn’t matter. He’s there just to take care of his father and make sure his pack is still standing. He didn’t have time, nor will, to be the Governor’s puppet. Even if the offer is good and the immunity and means seem tempting. Even if it’s a good option to be on the island, closer to his pack and family. </p><p>“Thank you for your offer, ma’am. But I barely have time to worry about my father and take care of this mess.” Steve nods at her and starts to leave. </p><p>“Think about it, please,” she insists, handing him her personal card. “Call any time if you change your mind.”</p><p>He pockets the card and leaves, not looking behind him. </p><p>He has business to deal with. </p><p>
  <strong>┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓</strong>
</p><p>The house smells a little bit enclosed, no one has been there since his dad went to the hospital to open a window. The scent of distress and blood still permeates the air and it sends all of Steve’s instincts on alert. The heavy fog of <em>hurt omega</em> and enraged beta is the strongest one, but hidden under a thick layer of blockers there’s another familiar scent. One he knows really well because he has spent the last few years memorizing it so he can track and hunt its owner. </p><p>Victor Hesse. </p><p>His suspicions are confirmed when he finds a footprint. </p><p>It’s definitely Hesse. They were the same size and width Steve had in his records as belonging to Victor Hesse’s: size eleven, double E, custom made. </p><p>Why would Yao and Doris hire Hesse to kill his father? Why not do it themselves? Why after so many years? Honestly, Steve doesn’t care, he hasn’t ever cared, about Doris. His dad made sure he knew she was his biological sire, but besides that, Uncle Joe and Aunt Deb were his other father and mother figures. He just wanted them in jail, away from his father and his pack. </p><p>The door at the garage is wide open, which calls his attention, usually, John never leaves any door open, and less the garage. As the pack leader, his house is always full of people and pups, especially pups. And little pups like to eat whatever they found, making the garage - a place filled with tools and little knickknacks his dad used to repair his old car - an incredibly dangerous place. Steve goes there, and finds the place is a mess, someone went there and they tried to find something. He looks around carefully: he smells John, Joe, closer to the outside door he smells Chin Ho Kelly and <em>whale</em>, maybe Kamekona or someone from his clan, he can’t tell for sure. There’s <em>mongoose</em> scent, the community of them in their clan is not that big, but it’s there nonetheless. </p><p>And all over the place, with a clear note of anger and stress, is Victor Hesse’s scent. He was there trying to find something, something that frustrated him. Steve follows the scent and suddenly he sees it. It is a toolbox, but not any toolbox, Steve recognizes it and it was one of the special magical boxes the elders created with metal from the spirit-caves, carved with ancient magic and protected with enchanted flowers. John’s toolbox looks like shit like the omega actually used it to work on a car instead of using it to protect sacred equipment or ingredients for potions and spells. Victor Hesse tried to take it, to open it, but the magic from the box impeded it. By the look of the used and destroyed pipes, wooden sticks broken in half, and a bent crowbar, he tried to force it from the worktop but he couldn’t. </p><p>Steve touches the toolbox and the little tag starts to glow blue, recognizing him as someone authorized to open the box. From the tag little lines start to shine, showing in the glowing light the signs that secretly decorated the whole thing. He is about to open it when he smells someone entering the garage and, suddenly, he’s being shouted at. </p><p>“You! Hands up! Don’t move!”</p><p>In the blink of an eye, a blond man is in front of him, pointing him with a gun. </p><p>“Who are you?” Steve shouts, taking his own gun out. </p><p>“Who are you?” The other man retorts, not lowering his gun. He’s shorter than Steve, but his shoulders are wide and his stance is firm, he knows how to fight. “I’m Detective Danny Williams.”</p><p>“Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett, this is my father’s house!”</p><p>“Put your weapon down right now,” the Detective demands, and Steve can smell shifter all over him. </p><p>“No! <em>You</em> put your weapon down!” Steve uses his alpha voice, trying to make the other submit. </p><p>It doesn’t work, the detective just talks over him, walking a little bit closer, gripping his gun tighter, and his finger moving closer to the trigger.</p><p>“Show me your ID!” Williams doesn’t back down, he’s ready to pounce at Steve. “Stay right there!”</p><p>“No! You show me your ID,” Steve growls, all alpha. </p><p>“You show me your ID, right now!” Williams growls back, defiant. He doesn’t care who Steve is or what range he has and, weirdly, Steve likes that. A detective doing his job without taking shit from anybody, he respects that. </p><p>It doesn’t mean he’s letting his guard down. </p><p>“Not putting my gun down,” Steve declares, voice calmer, but still strict. </p><p>“Neither am I,” the other man replies, softer, and Steve notices the scent of <em>omega, a jaguar</em>, but his eyes are hard and his arms are still upholding his gun, without wavering. </p><p>He had met some jaguars before, but not in his pack. </p><p>“Use your free hand, take out your ID,” Steve doesn’t scream, but he goes with alpha voice again. </p><p>“Please, after you,” Williams retorts.</p><p>“At the same time?” Steve proposes, realizing his technique isn’t working. </p><p>“At the same time?” The detective wonders, skeptical. </p><p>“Yeah, at the same time!” </p><p>“What, like, on the count of three?” Williams squints at him. </p><p>“Sure. Okay, three’s good.”</p><p>Williams waits for a beat. </p><p>“One…” the detective gets one hand away from the gun, the other holding it firmly and pointing it at Steve, slowly moving his hand to his pocket. “Two…” Steve also moves slowly to take his badge from his back pocket, taking it out. Then, before the blond man says the last number of the countdown, both of them have their badges out. </p><p>It’s enough to deflate them both, pocketing their IDs and putting their gun back in their holsters. </p><p>“Listen, I’m really sorry about your father, but you can’t be here right now. This is an active crime scene,” the blond man says. </p><p>“Doesn’t seem that active.” </p><p>“I can’t share any information with you.” </p><p>“Hesse was in this room before he tried to kill my father. He tried to find something in here, he wasn’t successful, because this place is a mess and my father hated being messy,” Steve argues.</p><p>“I’m gonna ask you again, you got to leave.” </p><p>“You got it.” Steve is mad and angry; he’s being shooed away from his house by a stranger, and something is bothering him under his skin like his alpha is mad at him. Steve takes the toolbox, which comes easily off the table, and he starts to leave. </p><p>“And you can leave the box, that is evidence. You know that.”</p><p>Oh, the detective is good, Steve will give him that. Quick, also. </p><p>“I came with this,” and he gives him his best shit-eating grin. </p><p>“No, you didn’t come with it. I see the dust void it left right here on the counter. What’s in the box? What are you hiding?” Danny argues. </p><p>“How long have you been with the Honolulu PD?” Steve tries to deflect. </p><p>“None of your business. What are you, Barbara Walters?” Williams snaps, angry, and Steve can smell him better, even with the blockers, and the uneasy feeling under his skin gets worse. </p><p>“No, it is my business if you’re investigating my father’s attack.” </p><p>“I am and I’d like to get back to that, so the sooner you leave, the sooner I can.”</p><p>“Anything you say,” Steve says, mad all over again. </p><p>“Leave the box or get arrested, all right?”Williams says with authority. </p><p>“You gonna call for backup?” Steve teases. </p><p>“An ambulance.” </p><p>Steve is surprised by the sudden wave of arousal he feels by the defiant look in the detective’s eyes. But he shakes it off. He needs to keep his promise to his dad. So, on an impulse, he takes his phone out, leaving the toolbox on top of the covered form of the Marquis,  and makes a call that, a few hours ago, he thought he’ll never do. </p><p>“Thank you,” says Williams, thinking Steve gave up. </p><p>“Don’t thank me yet,” he warns. </p><p>The call starts to connect, and Steve puts it on speaker. </p><p>“What are you doing?” Williams asks, Steve shushes him, pointing a finger at him. By the look on his face, the detective doesn’t like that. </p><p>“Oh, yeah, Governor Jameson, please? Tell her it’s Steve McGarrett” </p><p>Danny Williams smells pissed.  </p><p>“Oh please!”</p><p>“<em>Commander, Governor Jameson here. What can I do for you?” </em>The Governor speaks, and the sound reverberates around the garage. It seems to make the detective madder. </p><p>“You’re kidding me,” Williams says and starts to pace. Steve can’t stop looking at him. </p><p>“Governor, I’ll take the job. Now, let’s just say I found something that changed my mind,” Steve replies, following Williams every move, he can’t bear to lose sight of him. No, no, no, immediately. I’ll transfer to the reserves and I’ll run your task force. Wh-what? Like right now?...Okay. I, Steven J. McGarrett do solemnly declare upon my honor and conscience,” he can see the other man gesticulating in the background like he can’t believe what he’s witnessing, “that I will act at all times to the best of my abilities and knowledge in a manner befitting an officer of the law. Thank you, Governor.”</p><p>Steve and the detective share a look, and Steve takes the toolbox again. </p><p>“Now it’s <em>my</em> crime scene,” he declares and goes back to the house. </p><p>
  <strong>┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓</strong>
</p><p>The moment the detective stormed out of his house, he felt it. Like a pull so strong it made his legs shake, and then, with the sound of a car backing out of his driveway, his chest constricting and a pain so sharp that makes him dizzy. </p><p>Everything that happened in the garage makes sense now: the need to use his alpha voice, the looking, the feeling in his skin, the need to rile the detective up so he could sweat off his blockers and smell him. </p><p>Danny Williams is his mate. </p><p>It took a few minutes for him to regain control of his senses and for the pain to go away. But the pressure in his chest and the feeling of emptiness didn’t leave. Steve needs to find him and mate him, or at least, scent him until their hormones are leveled and they can court. </p><p>Mixed race matings are not an everyday thing but they are not that uncommon. In the United States, it was illegal, but the law changed fifty years ago. There are still some close-minded people, but at least, the McGarrett pack allows every member to love freely, even if some clans don’t share the sentiment. </p><p>So when he regains control of himself, he goes to HPD to get every bit of information he can on this jaguar. </p><p><em>His jaguar, damn it!</em> Steve thinks, and can’t help but feel smug.  </p><p>The feeling lasts until he arrives at Danny’s house. It’s in the in-between of his pack territory and Kala’s pack territory. Usually, people who don’t belong to any pack or had been kicked-out live in this kind of place, it’s a free territory that no one cares or wants to claim. There are nice free spaces all around the island, especially downtown with the Hotels and the places for tourists. But this free-range territory is especially nasty. Steve doesn’t like it, it smells rotten and like cheap drugs. </p><p>He smells the detective at the other side of the door, but the scent is….distressing. Steve knocks at the door and has to clench his fists and reel his alpha in because what he smells wants to make him growl and kick down the door. The door opens and Danny Williams just looks at him, all his bravado and personality are gone: he smells broken, in pain, every single ounce of his body and his apartment reek of despair and abandonment. He’s not only suffering the effects of being away from his newly found soulmate but something much deeper, more gut-wrenching. And Steve knows, he just fucking knows, that Danny didn’t recognize the pang of hurt when they separated. </p><p>Ignoring every social cue that his father tried to teach him when he was a teenager learning to lead a pack (and failed, most of the time), Steve just barges into the apartment. It is a shithole. Too small for a shifter to live comfortably, just one space with a little kitchen and a bathroom. A pullout bed that must be older than the relics the elders had in their ceremonial places. There’s some leakage from the ceiling leaving marks on the walls. Everything in this place screams <em>wrong, wrong, wrong</em> at Steve. And there, on a small coffee table, besides a gun and a badge, rests a framed ultrasound. </p><p>The grief and heartbreak scent makes sense now. </p><p>Danny is just standing there, looking at the ground, he’s clearly upset, he’s mad, angry, sad, <em>so fucking sad</em>, but Steve can tell he’s holding himself so he doesn’t start a fight inside his nest. And that’s fucking it. Steve can’t stand Danny thinking this rattrap it’s his nest, his home. </p><p>“You’re not ok, Danny,” Steve says, getting closer to the other man. </p><p>“Stunning detective work,” Danny retorts, looking at him directly in the eyes for the first time since he arrived. “But I can’t see how that’s any of your business.”  </p><p>He’s trying to be tough, strong, but Steve can smell he’s not. So, trusting his instincts, and the nearly unbearable urge to complete their mating bond, he gets closer to the blond man. </p><p> </p><p>“We need to talk,” Steve says. “This is not right,” he adds.</p><p> </p><p>“We don’t have anything to talk to. You kicked me out of the case and that’s it,” Danny says firmly.</p><p> </p><p>“So you’re going to ignore this?” Steve gestures with his hand back and forth in between them.</p><p> </p><p>Danny doesn’t reply, avoiding Steve’s gaze.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re my mate,” Steve states like that explains everything. And to him, it does. “You can’t deny it. My body felt it the moment your scent blockers wore off. Danny…”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not arguing that,” Danny replies with a tone that says ‘arguing’ all over. “But you can’t just barge into someone’s house and expect them to fall in love with you!” The blond Detective sits down on his bed, rubbing his face with his palms.</p><p> </p><p>“I never said I wanted you to fall in love with me, are you a closeted romantic, Detective Williams?” </p><p> </p><p>Danny just groans and Steve can’t help but laugh. He looks at Danny, carefully walking towards the bed, his alpha instinct is calling him to go and just jump on top of his mate. But things don’t work like that, and he knows he’ll probably end up with a bullet hole if he makes the omega feel threatened. Steve makes his intentions clear: he wants to sit in the bed with Danny, but that’s a real intimate place, he needs permission.</p><p> </p><p>Danny just sighs and nods. Steve can’t suppress the smile that spreads on his face while he sits beside the other man in the bed, close to him, their shoulders touching and thighs touching. The contact doesn’t seem to bother Danny, on the contrary, the Detective inches a little bit closer to Steve.</p><p> </p><p>“Well?” Danny breaks the silence. “You said you wanted to talk, so talk. We don’t have all day, McGarrett. Or at least I don’t want to be here all day. I have things to do, places to be.”</p><p> </p><p>“You didn’t feel the pull? How our bond strained when you drove away?” Steve asks, concerned. </p><p> </p><p>Danny just nods. That’s not enough for Steve, so he nudges at Danny with his knee softly. Danny growls at him a little, but he doesn’t move or pull away.</p><p> </p><p>“C’mon, Williams,” Steve urges.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re gonna make me say it?”</p><p> </p><p>Steve just looks at him.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes. Yes, ok? I felt it.” Danny snaps. “I did. I felt the pull, but I thought it was…other stuff. But your scent got stuck with me and I fucking whined when I arrived here and I couldn’t smell you anymore.”</p><p> </p><p>“I felt it too,” Steve declares. “When you got out of the house I thought I was gonna faint.”</p><p> </p><p>“And then you proceeded to stalk me with my boss,” Danny accuses, but there’s no heat behind his words.</p><p>"How do you know that?"</p><p>Danny just points at the HPD logo of the folder Steve was carrying with him. </p><p> </p><p>“I…” Steve takes a deep breath and gets a lungful of Danny’s scent. “I just needed to know more about you.”</p><p> </p><p>“You could, I don’t know, asked? Maybe? Or whatever normal people do!” Danny exclaims. “Besides, didn’t you find enough on my file? Why did you have to come here?”</p><p> </p><p>“Whatever made you smell like this isn’t going to appear in your record,” Steve retorts and Danny just sighs.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re not going to drop it, are you?” Danny asks and Steve shakes his head.</p><p> </p><p>“What happened, Detective? I can smell your pain,” Steve pleads, he wants to understand why his omega is in such a state.</p><p> </p><p>Danny makes a soft and sad sound in the back of his throat, his scent turning sour. He, unconsciously,  seeks Steve, getting even closer to him, their sides completely flush together. Steve doesn’t stop him, but he senses that Danny doesn’t want to be hugged, so he just let him be. He’ll be there for whatever reason Danny needs his support.</p><p> </p><p>“I was married...a long time ago, still a pup fresh out of the police academy, her name is Rachel. She thought she could handle marrying a cop. She thought I would be happy with just handing over tickets and sitting behind a desk. When I became a detective she wasn’t happy and said my work was too dangerous. We tried to make it work...it didn’t work. She left, met a guy named Stan, and immediately hit it off...but…” Danny stops talking and starts to shake, reliving everything he’s telling. </p><p> </p><p>Steve’s nostrils fill with Danny’s sorrow, and it’s too much, nearly unbearable. If whatever happened makes Danny feel like this, then Steve doesn’t want to know. He doesn’t want Danny to suffer more just because Steve is curious.</p><p> </p><p>“You don’t have to tell me, Danny. I’m sorry, it’s ok. It’s alright,” Steve coos at him, unable to stop himself, and he carefully rubs his shoulder against Danny in what he hopes it’s a comforting gesture.</p><p> </p><p>“No, you need to know. I want you to know. <em>She</em> deserves that you know about her.” Danny breathes deeply, his body emanating more sadness and acridness. “Three months after Rachel left me, she came to my apartment and told me that she’s pregnant...and that the baby is mine. I always wanted kids, it was what I dreamed we would have when I met her. The situation wasn’t ideal but...I was going to be a dad! I was so happy...Then Rachel and her husband moved to Hawaii, and I followed to be close to the baby. We didn’t have a name but I knew it was going to be a girl. In my mind, I called her...I called her Bean,” Danny starts to cry, sobbing quietly against Steve’s shoulder, erasing whatever boundary was holding him and letting him. The alpha feels the dampness against his shoulder and his own wolf whines pitifully in sympathy. </p><p> </p><p>“Three months ago...three months ago Stanley...he’s Rachel’s new husband, calls me and tells me they are on their way to the hospital, that something is wrong with the baby. They couldn’t save her, she died inside Rachel, there was nothing they could do…” </p><p> </p><p>The devastation and grief are so strong in Danny that it shocks Steve. All of this time he was alone dealing with it, unlike Rachel who had her husband. Danny was here, divorced, with a dead child and no one to support him. Steve promises himself he’ll never leave Danny alone, ever again. He’ll make Danny pack, because, even if Steve isn’t able to physically be there for his mate, he’ll make sure his ohana and pack take care of him as it should. </p><p> </p><p>Danny cries quietly, resting a little more of his weight against Steve. The alpha carefully embraces him with one arm, and Danny hugs him back, plastering his face against Steve’s shoulder while his arms surround Steve’s waist. It feels good, and it’s comforting in a really pleasant way. Steve can’t erase the pain or fix what happened, but he can sit quietly and hold Danny as long as he needs.</p><p> </p><p>The little clock in the wall tells Steve they have been there, in complete silence, for almost an hour, but to him, it feels like mere minutes. Danny has calmed down significantly, but he’s not letting go, and neither is Steve. For good measure, he tightens his hold on Danny and snuggles closer to him. </p><p> </p><p>Carefully, Steve bare his neck to Danny in a show of trust. Danny confided in what happened with his baby, so he wants to reciprocate the level of confidence and trust the omega put on him, even if he barely knows him. Danny noses carefully at his neck, sniffling softly for a little while until he finds a spot he likes so he sniffs harder and starts to scent mark Steve. In return, Danny also tilts his neck, showing the tender curvature of his jugular, wanting Steve to get closer even if he still smells a little bit sad. Steve whines lowly, trying to comfort his mate, licking softly at his neck and nosing at it. They scent each other, nuzzling and caressing each other with soft touches of their noses and with gentle hands.</p><p> </p><p>“You will never feel that way, ever again, Danny. I promise,” Steve says, making their foreheads touch.</p><p> </p><p>Danny nods against him, he’s breathing normally again, little puffs of air against his lips. Danny’s scent is magnificent, it’s the best thing Steve has ever smelled. He wants to breathe it in, mix it with his own, and never let go. He’s thankful the blockers Danny was wearing wore off and now he smells just <em>perfect</em>.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m going to kiss you,” says Danny.</p><p> </p><p>Steve wasn’t expecting that. Not at all but he’s not going to deny him, because he really wants to be kissed by him. But it’s a sweet kiss, really tender and soft, and amazing. Steve can’t help but follow Danny’s mouth to kiss him again, and again, and once more, until he opens his mouth slowly and Danny sweeps his tongue in between Steve’s lips and it’s <em>heaven</em>. He’s trying to pour everything he’s feeling into the kiss. They might not know each other at all, but Steve will do anything to make this work, to show Danny he’s a smart alpha, a good man for him. </p><p> </p><p>They kiss again, deeply, and it’s like a dam burst open because one second they’re scenting sitting in front of each other, and the next they’re a tangle of arms and legs rolling in the bed. Steve kisses Danny, deep, hard, and needy. Because Steve needs, and needs, and needs so much from the other man he can’t believe he thought, even for a minute, he could live his life without a mate. The omega circles his hips so they can rub better against each other. It’s not about getting off, but more about leaving a recognizable scent mark behind. And Steve is all about that. </p><p> </p><p>“Mine,” Steve growls against Danny’s neck, once they finally break the kiss. “I don’t care about anything, Danny, I’m making you my partner, my best friend, my mate, whatever it takes but I’m not letting you out of my sight,” he promises the other man. </p><p> </p><p>“Control freak,” Danny mumbles, titling his neck so Steve has more space to lick and nip, “you’re a control freak. I don’t even know you and you’re already on top of me trying to control my life.” Danny complains, but there’s no heat to his words, and his body is pliant, welcoming the advances of his mate.</p><p> </p><p>Steve can’t help but snort. Their kisses get slower, but they don’t stop touching each other, after twenty minutes they’re back at holding each other, resting on Danny’s bed. It’s comfortable and nice, it’s the more relaxed Steve has been in a while. But it doesn’t last much, he knows he has work to do. After a while, the little voice of duty is louder and louder.</p><p> </p><p>“C’mon. Let’s go solve this case and then we can mate.” Steve detangles himself from Danny with a lot of willpower, sitting on the sofa bed carefully. </p><p> </p><p>“Woah, woah, woah. Are you suffering from dementia? This is no longer my case. And mating?! Who said anything about mating? I’m not an easy girl, you have to date me and court me. Or at least buy me a cup of coffee.” Danny is also sitting on the bed, hands in the air, frowning. </p><p> </p><p>Steve rolls his eyes. </p><p> </p><p>“Fine, we can court. Happy? But you got no choice about work, Detective,” Steve says, smug. “Governor gave me jurisdiction, and <em>I’m </em>making you <em>my</em> partner. We’re gonna get along great.” </p><p> </p><p>Danny just groans, flopping back into the bed. </p><p>
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</p><p>Danny tells Steve that he ran ballistics on the bullets they extracted from John’s body and that it matched with some records about other cases of HPD. That led Danny to think that Victor Hesse got in contact with an arms dealer on the island named Doran. Going after Doran is a bust but also a good thing. They managed to save an innocent girl, but their only lead was dead because Danny had to shoot Doran to save Steve: the alpha had managed to get in the wrong side of Doran’s weapon. They fought about it, Danny thought Steve was taking unnecessary risks, Steve thought Danny wasn’t invested enough. They got so mad that Steve put Danny in a headlock in front of a bunch of HPD officers when the blond started to shove his finger against Steve’s chest. Danny got so mad at him that he punched him square in the cheek. </p><p>Even if Doran is dead, the girl is safe and now they know that the arms dealer is related to people trafficking, and if Wo Lukela’s information is right, it matches his suspicions of Hesse’s entry to the island. Steve knows Chin Ho Kelly can help them: he used to work with HPD and his father trusted him with his life, besides he was the one who found information about Danny in the first place. But before they go there, he licks and nuzzles at Danny’s neck, where his arm left a red abrasion mark. Danny complains and tries to push him away, but he ends up kissing and licking at the bruise his fist left in Steve’s face. </p><p>After some convincing, Chin Ho Kelly agrees to join them, saying that he knows a man named Kamekona who can give them information. Even if they have to pay for that, wearing a ridiculously big t-shirt with Kamekona’s face on it while eating shaved ice. In the end, it’s worth it because they have the name of the man who’s smuggling people: Sang Min. Steve thinks Danny looks incredibly hot while licking ice from a little spoon, especially when he licks around his mouth to clean himself, so that’s a bonus of going to Kamekona’s place. Everything falls into place when Chin assures them he knows the perfect omega to lure information out of Sang Min. </p><p>Steven’s inner alpha doesn’t like it much when Danny openly ogles Chin’s cousin, Kono, but Steve has to admit that the young woman is incredibly beautiful and athletic, so he doesn’t blame him...at least not too much. </p><p>“Kamekona said that the transactions usually take place at two or three a.m, so we have some time to spare,” Chin informs them. </p><p>The four of them are in HQ, going over every step of the plan and making sure the equipment is working smoothly. The place is still empty, and that messes with Steve’s brain. His alpha is in full nesting mode. When he was with his team, back in the Navy, everyone used very potent scent blockers and military-grade clothes so scents were concealed and those instincts of providing and nurturing were suppressed. They didn’t wear heavy-duty blockers in Hawaii. Even Danny, who wore the most potent blocker of the four of them,  still smells of unmated male omega and the distinctive undertones of his personal scent. So Steve felt like he had to take care and provide for his mate, and familiar omega and beta, which was an unusual feeling. But the constant smell of the other members of the task force makes his brain and alpha want to care for his team. He didn’t feel like bonding and forming a pack with people he just met, but Steve knows that things on the island, and in his pack, tend to be different. </p><p>“If you don’t have anything else to do, I’ll need some help, guys,” Steve says to Chin and Kono, smirking at the thought of the fuss he knows Danny’s going to make when he learns about Steve’s motives. </p><p>“Sure, boss, whatever you need,” replies Kono, smiling at him. </p><p>“We need to move Danny out of his place ASAP and settle him into the McGarrett’s clan house.” </p><p>“Sure,” both cousins reply at the same time. </p><p>“What!” Danny screams. “What are you talking about? When was I consulted about this? No, no, no. Steve. No. Do you hear me? Is your neanderthal alpha brain capable of understanding the basic meaning of ‘no’? Because I’m telling you, with you two as my witness, I’m not moving anywhere!” Danny is moving one arm up and down while pointing threateningly at Steve with the other. </p><p>“Danny, c’mon. Your place is a rat-trap. It’s not safe, it’s not big enough for a shifter and you’ll end up leaving it anyway when we mate. This way your transition to the pack is smoother,” Steve explains like it’s the most logical thing in the world. </p><p>“We haven’t mated yet! We haven’t even courted. I’m not moving in with you,” Danny complains, but Chin and Kono snort; both Steve and Danny are already scent claimed, they reek of each other. </p><p>“Steve’s right, brah,” Chin interferes, “when I looked up who was the cop working on the pack leader’s case I saw your file, and your address is in a really ugly place on the island. There’s a reason no pack wants that land. Elders believe it’s hōʻino ʻia. And I share their wisdom.” </p><p>“What the hell is that?” Danny asks, still annoyed. </p><p>“<em>Cursed</em>, “ hisses Kono, squinting her eyes in a threatening way. “And the elders are used to some weird crap, Danny, they talk with ghosts daily. So if they think it’s cursed, then you bet your ass it is.”</p><p>Danny raises his hands in surrender. Steve can tell he’s not buying it, but he doesn’t want to disrespect Chin and Kono’s beliefs. </p><p>It takes half an hour but they reach a middle ground; Danny will move, but not to Steve’s. Instead, he’ll rent a nice one floor furnished house in the McGarrett’s pack territory that’s a fifteen minutes walk away from the McGarrett’s clan house and a twenty minutes ride to Headquarters. The landlord is Chin and Kono’s cousin, and she gives them a good price. Steve’s not completely happy, but his alpha is somehow settled knowing his omega will be in a better place that’s closer to him. </p><p>Packing everything Danny has takes them less than ten minutes: it’s just clothes and a plastic bag worth of personal items.  Steve purrs in satisfaction when Danny agrees to dump the sofa-bed. They spend the next few hours looking for furniture and buying new sheets and towels for the house; Steve organized everything like a military OP, everyone had a task and a specific part of the store to tackle. After everything is settled and Danny has the house keys of his new place, they agree to go to Steve’s to drink some beers and relax before the whole show. </p><p>“How’s your dad?” Danny asks as they’re sitting on two Adirondacks close to the ocean.  Kono is tanning and Chin is relaxing a little bit by swimming in the open water. </p><p>“Better. He’s still in a coma, but he’s responding well to treatment and there’s no infection nor bleeding. Joe is still in full protective mode. According to the hospital crew, he hasn’t shifted to human in two days. I’m worried about him, too...” and because suddenly Steve is too open, honest, and vulnerable, he adds, “and I’ve been home for almost twelve hours and I don’t know anything about my sister either...I don’t know what to think about that.”</p><p>“Shit, babe, there’s a lot of stuff to unpack there,” Danny says and extends one of his hands to take Steve’s, interlocking their fingers. The gesture makes Steve’s heart race, but the tender and warm feeling of Danny’s calloused hand around his own calm him. “Let’s focus on getting a trace on the motherfucker who shot your dad and then we’ll deal with more complex situations like who put a price on your dad’s head and strained relationships with younger siblings.” </p><p>“Yeah…” Steve agrees. </p><p>They talk about siblings, mostly Danny, and anecdotes of them growing up. Steve talks about his youth, his time in Annapolis, and how he joined the Navy. Chin comes out of the water a little while after that, and he shares hilarious stories of pup-Steve and his overeagerness in the football field of the days when Steve used to be a quarterback in Highschool. Danny and Kono have a blast mocking him, and Steve takes it in good grace, even if he kicks sand at Kono and pushes Danny off the chair. </p><p>Steve watches Danny, Kono, and Chin talking carefreely on the beach, and his heart is warm. The feeling is so new but familiar at the same time that Steve has to take some minutes alone to wrap his head around the fact that he’s acting like a pack leader, and that he has his own little ohana to protect. He doesn’t want to risk overthinking it and ruining everything, so he just grabs more beers and another bag of chips and heads back to the beach, joining his new family. </p><p>
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</p><p>The op goes really well, and Steve is amused when Chin smashes an ashtray into Sang Min’s face and, especially,  when he finally manages to put two silver bullets through Victor Hesse’s chest. </p><p>“Don’t let him fall!” Danny yells in a commanding voice, so Steve doesn’t have another choice but comply. </p><p>He grabs Victor by the lapels of his suit and pulls him on top of him. Both of them fall on the roof of the container, Steve a little bit tired and panting, the older Hesse brother slowly bleeding on top, still struggling a little bit. Steve, for good measure, takes his gun and shoots Victor again in the shoulder and the leg. It’s difficult due to his position but he manages anyway, he’s a SEAL after all. Carefully Steve rolls the other man to the side and makes sure he’s immobile but still alive, if they’re quick to take the bullets out it won’t be lethal. They need him alive so they can get information out of him. He checks on Danny, who’s zip-tying some man who’s struggling. Behind the detective, there’s another three men unconscious and tied down, and Steve feels proud, his omega is a fine officer of the law. </p><p>Danny looks up and finds Steve, he smiles softly at him and Steve returns the smile, feeling complete in a way he has never experienced. </p><p>
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</p><p>After everything with Hesse, making sure he survived the bullets and was safely secured in the prison hospital (Steve wouldn’t allow for Hesse to be anywhere else, that man could escape even if he was about to die and leaving him in a civilian territory was a big risk), he talked with the Governor. She seemed pleased with the results and promised them that everything they requested for their new office will arrive shortly. </p><p>With the paperwork cleared, everyone with their contracts signed, and their oaths were sworn, Steve felt like he finally could relax. They had the main guy, how he related to Doris Shelbourne and Yao Fat was a task for another day, or maybe next month. He wasn’t eager to find out but he knew his father deserved it, so he’ll deal with it. In the meantime, Steve allowed himself to relax, letting his nostrils fill with the smell of his mate and the comfort of his closeness. </p><p>They kissed and scented, and maybe Steve copped a feel in the car before leaving the parking lot of the palace. But the drive to the McGarrett’s pack was silent in a peaceful sense. They held hands the whole way and Steve made Danny promise to allow him to go over in the morning so they can have breakfast together and visit John before going to work. Steve would have insisted for Danny to sleep with him, <em>just sleep</em>, but he could tell his omega wasn’t in the mood to be persuaded of something he already made clear he didn’t want. At least not yet, so Steve had to content himself with kissing him one last time before getting out of the car and to his house. </p><p>The moment the Camaro left the driveway he smells her immediately. So when Steve opens the front door and finds Mary sitting in the living room with a coffee cup in hand, he isn’t surprised. </p><p>He’s relieved. </p><p>They look at each other for a long while. It’s been years since he last saw her, at least for a long amount of time. She’s older and more tired, she’s not the little girl or the rebellious teenager he remembered. She’s a woman. An alpha. </p><p>It’s not uncommon for omegas and betas mating to produce alphas, but it’s not unheard of. Mary is one of them. She never liked being alpha, at least that’s what Steve remembers from their childhood. From the heavy scent blockers she’s wearing, she’s still not that comfortable with it. </p><p>“Took you long enough,” she says, and she sounds hurt. </p><p>“Mary...I came as soon as I could. The attack was two days ago and I was...far away.” </p><p>His sister sighs like she’s dealing with an idiot. And she’s looking at him like he’s an idiot. Steve doesn’t like that. </p><p>“I don’t mean the attack, Steve. I mean all these years. You’re supposed to be the heir but you left! You left and you barely called or sent cards or anything. I don’t remember the last holiday you spent with us, or the last ritual, or the last run. Hell...I don’t even remember when was the last time you picked up your damn phone on your birthday so we could wish a happy birthday to you!”</p><p>Mary is mad, he doesn’t need to smell her (even if he could, her blockers do a good job of concealing her scent) to see it. Her eyes tell him everything he needs to know. If looks could kill Steve would be dead where he’s standing. But, something in her stand, in the way she’s holding herself, tells Steve that her anger it’s just a façade. Steve blinks, surprised when he realizes what it is: Mary is hurt. She’s hurt because Steve’s been away...and somehow that’s worse. </p><p>“I was protecting our country, our island, our people. You can’t blame me for that, Mer.” Steve tries to placate her, but he doesn’t like to be accused. Even if deep down he knows he’s guilty. He’ll never admit it. </p><p>“No one asked you to do that,” Mary says. </p><p>“I’m the heir, it’s my job to do everything to protect our people. When I’m in service I do that.” </p><p>“You could also do it by staying in touch with your clan, or learning things on the island, not doing secret ops in Kokonushtan or whatever country you can’t tell me.”</p><p>Steve smiles at that. </p><p>“Kokonushtan doesn’t exist, Mer,” Steve replies with a serious tone, but he’s half-joking. </p><p>It works to break the hard tension between them because Mary cracks a smile and shakes her head. </p><p>“Don’t think this is over, Steven. It’s not. You’re not forgiven...but I’m glad you’re here… I missed you.”</p><p>Mary gets close to him, and Steve knows she wants to hug him but she’s not sure if it’s allowed. Usually, alphas don’t hug much. He knows it’s a ridiculous stereotype and that there must be hundreds of thousands of alpha who are affectionate and hug, but Steve’s been drilled by the Navy, where no one touches each other, and some habits are hard to break. But he’s not in the Navy anymore, he transferred to the Reserves that same day. So he meets her halfway and hugs her, clinging to her hard and pulling her off the ground, making Mary shriek with laughter. </p><p>“I missed you, too,” he confesses, still hugging her. </p><p>“It’s good to have you home, at least for a while,” she says, resting her head against Steve’s shoulder, a movement that reminds Steve of the time when Mary was just a baby learning to walk and liked to hug him. </p><p>“I’m staying,” Steve says, stepping away a little bit, still touching her shoulders. “The Governor offered me a job that allowed me to catch the person who shot our dad. Run a task force, catch the bad guys, all that stuff. So I took it, but I had to transfer to the Reserves. I’m staying...for good.”</p><p>Mary looks at him like she can’t believe what he just told her, and then she’s in his space, sniffing at his neck and chest. </p><p>“And you’re scent bonded. You have met someone and want to settle down. Are they Navy, too?”</p><p>Steve can’t help but smile. </p><p>“No, HDP, but he’s part of the task force now. We met today… he’s my soulmate,” Steve confesses, proud to have found Danny. </p><p>“Steve you wolf!” Mary exclaims, hitting him playfully on the bicep. “24 hours on land and you already scored for life!”</p><p>“I got lucky,” he says, and can’t help but grin when he remembers how Danny’s body felt under his own when they scented in the detective’s old apartment. “Really lucky.”</p><p>
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</p><p>Twelve days is how long John McGarrett lasted in the hospital. </p><p>Besides a wheelchair that will help him for a few months, vitamin supplements, and a strict diet, John is all right. Steve knows Mary and he inherited their lack of patience from their omega dad, so he’s surprised how long his dad stayed under the care of the hospital crew after waking up. </p><p>The clans of the pack organize a Luau to celebrate John’s recovery and release. </p><p>After his team captured Hesse and Steve had a chat with Mary, he slept for what it felt like ages. He just woke up once to drink two bottles of water and then go back to sleep. When Steve felt a little bit rested, he drove to the hospital to update on his dad’s progress, and then, without much thinking, he drove to Danny’s and proceeded to take a 5-hour nap with him. To Steve’s immense surprise, Danny didn’t complain, just opened the door shirtless and with sweatpants, and snuggled right up to Steve when they slipped into bed. </p><p>The first member of his family Steve introduced Danny to was John, albeit he was still unconscious, but when the older omega woke up he said to them that he remembered Danny’s scent. Joe was next, and then Mary. Steve got the chance to meet the rest of the Williams family through a Skype call, they were louder than he had imagined but more loving and welcoming than anything he had ever experienced. The meeting with Rachel and Stan Edwards was good, even if it was a surprise, a random meeting in a luxury jewelry store. Five-0 was there because of a lead, the Edwards were buying some cufflinks for Stan. It was awkward but not that bad, and Danny showed Steve off with pride and a big smile. </p><p>So far so good. </p><p>The pack seems to warm up to Danny, even if he had a rough start with the members of the Kapu. Kawika, the leader of the Kapu, didn’t seem too kind of the idea of Danny being the heir’s mate. But he knew better than anyone the pack rules: everyone was welcome even more if they weren’t well-received in other parts (except if they committed serious crimes). The Kalakaua-Kelly clan welcomed him with open arms, the Tupuloa clan were reserved but ended up liking him anyway. The small families liked Danny because he was a member of the law enforcement who could protect them, unlike the big clans and older clans they didn't have personal security measures. In general, everyone respected Steve's choice of mate and the work hours he gave to the island. </p><p>During the celebration, his father’s mood seems to perk up, surrounded by his clans and constantly chatting with people and playing with the pups, who loved to follow him around shifted. The little cats liked to curl around him and purr, the wolves jumped around the wheelchair with happy yips, the little baby birds flew around his head and arms. The omega leader delights in the attention and looks younger when dealing with the pack’s offspring. </p><p>Danny is resting against a tree, body in the grass and back propped up on the trunk. He’s wearing a white linen shirt and black boardshorts while drinking peacefully from a Longboard, watching the pack with thoughtful eyes. The mood of the evening is relaxed, everyone is having fun: some were eating, some were playing, others chatting, a few are making love while a few curious teenagers look and ask questions, others are arguing about old history topics, a lot of members of the pack are entertained in playing music or dancing, others just watching. Everyone is peacefully waiting for the main courses. </p><p>“Still thinking this is a pineapple infested hell hole?” Steve asks as he sits beside Danny and, after not even a second, he decides to show submission by curling on top of him and resting his head on Danny’s chest. </p><p>The omega immediately embraces him, playing with the short strands of hair at the back of his skull, still holding his beer in the other hand. </p><p>“Pineapple it’s a good fruit Steve, by itself or as juice, but it’s still prohibited near my pizza.” </p><p>Steve snorts, and doesn’t bother replying, he just nuzzles at Danny’s nipple over his t-shirt. </p><p>“Hey, stop that, you freak. We’re not doing anything like that in the open,” Danny complains. </p><p>“It’s normal behavior for mated couples to do foreplay or have sex during celebrations or special occasions for the pack. I’m sure people did that back in Jersey,” Steve argues back. </p><p>“Sure, but not as open as carefree as the folks here.” Steve bites one of Danny’s nipples, enjoying the angry yelp the blond man lets out. “<em>And </em>those are mated couple behaviors, we’re still courting, which I’m starting to re-think that idea if you keep this attitude you bitey neandertal animal!</p><p>“You’re all talk and no bite, jaguar. You just like to complain but I know you love it,” Steve says, biting at Danny’s neck and them kissing him deeply. </p><p>Danny hums against his lips and opens up to him. </p><p>“I thought you...we… that you wanted to have kids with me?” Steve says, carefully. “We have to have sex in order to try it that way.”</p><p>“Wanting to have children and falling into the shameless exhibitionism of this pack are two completely different things, Steve,” Danny complains. “And if you keep that up there will be no children with you.”</p><p>“Hey!” Steve protests, frowning. “Don’t be like that. I promise I can give you as many pups as you want.”</p><p>“Even if I want twenty kids?” Danny says, seriously. </p><p>“As many as we’re blessed with. One, five, thirty,” Steve shrugs and kisses Danny. </p><p>They get lost in it. They have known each other for less than two weeks, but Steve is already in love. Deep and unequivocally in love. Danny got under his skin so fast but so sure. It’s not just because they have incredible physical chemistry, but they’re also really good partners. Danny is an amazing cop and an incredible detective. He had organized and compartmentalized their task force with ease, took care of the paperwork like it was nothing. He acted as a good second in command when it was time to deal with the Governor or other members of HPD, but he was also soft and patient with Kono and worried that the kitchen always had good quality coffee. He made Steve’s days so interesting, so unique, always with deep meaningful conversations about deep topics or about stupid stuff, like malasadas or cars. The alpha realized soon that he loved to spend time with Danny, that working with him and spending courting time wasn’t enough. </p><p>When they finally mated and Danny moved to the clan house it would be better, they could spend more time together. </p><p>Steve is on top of Danny now, pinning him to the grass, still making out and enjoying being so close to his omega. The smell of Danny’s slick was maddening, Steve couldn’t help but grind against him, pressing his hard-on against Danny’s leg. The smell of omega arousal only increases and he loses himself in it. </p><p>“Fuck, you smell so good,” Steve moans against Danny’s mouth, licking at his lips. “Let me taste you, baby, I need to feel you on my tongue, smell your lovely pussy.”</p><p>“Steve…” Danny moans, and nods, once, embarrassed and flushed. “Fucking hate you, look at what you convince me to do,” Danny complains. </p><p>The detective is completely hard and wet, his board shorts tenting, all the hormones in his body screamed that he’s aroused, and he’s grabbing Steve like he’ll kill him if he lets go or stops, but yet he complains. </p><p>Steve loves that. </p><p>“You’re lying, I know you love me, and I know you love what I do to your body. You love my fingers,” Steve says as he slides his hand inside Danny’s shorts and his underwear, teasing his cock caressing his balls, and sliding around the lips of his vagina, “I know you love my mouth,” he bites down at Danny’s jaw, leaving a mark. </p><p>Danny doesn’t reply, but with a grunt, he manages to flip them, and now he’s on top of Steve. How Steve manages to keep his hand inside his pants, still teasing his entrance, it’s a real surprise. </p><p>“You might be right, but we’re not mating on the grass,” Danny growls at him, and it’s his turn to nip at Steve’s neck and touch his chest with one hand while applying pressure to his captive cock with the other. “Or at your dad’s welcoming party.” With clever fingers, he takes Steve’s cock out of his shorts. Quickly, Danny spits on his hands, more out of habit than a real need because Steve’s leaking precome like crazy, and starts to jack the alpha cock in a tight fist. </p><p>Steve moans unashamedly, delighted to feel Danny’s hand in such an intimate place, caressing his sensitive flesh, twisting with his firm hand at the base of the knot. </p><p>“We still have to…” Steve can’t help but gasps, crazy with the rhythm Danny has in his cock, “...make it official in front of the pack and the elders.”  </p><p>“And I demand one of those beautiful white beds I’ve seen created especially to mate in backyards or beaches. I’m not letting you fuck me in an air mattress. Do you hear me?”</p><p>Despite the blinding pleasure, Steve can’t help but laugh, shaking his head. Danny is smiling back at him. </p><p>“Now shut up, I want to come,” Steve demands and pushes Danny’s shorts out of the way. </p><p>Steve takes both of their dicks in one hand, while his other hand still touches and teases at the entrance of Danny’s pussy. Their scents are mingling together and he loves it. He loves the feeling of Danny’s too-big-for-an-omega-cock against his own, how hot and thick it feels. Steve loves how hot their kisses are, how beautiful Danny sounds when he sucks at his tongue, when he goes deep and licks the inside of his mouth, or when he starts to trust in their joined hands, sliding two fingers inside Danny’s cunt. </p><p>“Oh, babe…” Danny moans, and it’s beautiful, Steve wants to drink it, but his knot is filling up, enlarged and sensitive against Danny’s penis. </p><p>“Yeah, that’s it,” Steve encourages. </p><p>It doesn’t take them long after that to reach their mutual orgasm. It’s fantastic, every time they’re intimate it’s better than the last. Steve has a feeling that the sentiment will never get old. It’s fantastic to share pleasure with your soulmate, he highly recommends doing it. </p><p>They kiss for a while after that, enjoying their postcoital bliss, while Steve massages his come against Danny’s exposed skin. The omega doesn’t say anything, used to Steve’s possessive antics. He complained the first couple of times the alpha did that after they had some kind of sex, but now he gives up. And Steve knows it’s because he grew to love it too. </p><p>“You should have left something for the land, boy. It's a good offering for the gods,” Steve looks to the side, finding Joe standing there, looking at them with a soft smile on his face. </p><p>“I’ll remember next time, Uncle Joe,” Steve replies, hiding his smirk when he sees that Danny is flushing. </p><p>“Good, good. Whenever you’re ready come find us, John wants to share the pork and the tuna with both of you.” With a final nod, Joe leaves, slowly walking in between the other members of the pack.</p><p>Dany groans loudly, and flops to his side, still touching Steve but not on top of the alpha anymore. </p><p>“Excellent, one of your dads saw my dick.”</p><p>“You better get used to it, they’ll see more than your dick when we make our mating official,” Steve smiles in a predatory way at Danny, rolling on top of him. </p><p>“Ugh,” he groans again, hiding his face against Steve’s neck, “don’t remind me.”</p><p>“No can do, Danny. My alpha won’t let you forget that one day, soon, everyone in here will see how beautiful you look when I split you open with my knot.”</p><p>Danny’s cat-like groan and Steve’s answering laugh could be heard over the Luau music. </p><p>
  <strong>┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓</strong>
</p><p>Back in Jersey Danny believed in coincidences. Not so much in Hawaii. On the island, everything seemed to happen for a reason.</p><p> </p><p>Steve and he are having a quiet dinner at Kamekona’s shrimp truck. It was a slow day at the office, and they had a lot of paperwork to catch up on. So when Steve said that he was craving some shrimp, Danny complied easily in going out with him. Mostly because he wanted an excuse to forget about, what it felt like, thousands of forms and things he had to sign, but also because spending time with the alpha after a long day was relaxing.</p><p> </p><p>They hadn’t had time to hang out and talk a lot during the week. On Saturday they spend the day together lazing around on the beach and watching some football games on TV. After that, work and their other responsibilities had kept them away. Plus, Steve knew that on Thursdays he had therapy or, depending on the day in the month, a hangout.</p><p> </p><p>“How was everything yesterday?” Asks Steve, mouth half-full and licking at his fingers.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re an animal. Finish eating before speaking,” Danny berates him. “But it was good, pretty good. Had fun, ate some good cheese, laughed a little bit, and went home early. A perfect night by my standards.”</p><p> </p><p>Yesterday Danny had spent some time with the friends he made in the support group for parents that lost children. After getting to know each other for some weeks, the members of Danny’s small club decided that a gathering outside the health center would be good to break the ice. After the first time it became a tradition; so once a month they meet in a quiet restaurant close to Diamond Head. They drank some freshly squeezed juice and ate various kinds of meat and cheese platters while talking and joking. He didn’t have a problem with alcohol, but he didn’t drink with the group because a few of the members struggled – or <em>are </em>struggling – with alcoholism. It was a fun evening that worked to make him feel like he did have a life outside of the police enforcement field. Plus, he got to hang out with people who helped him heal and who had lived through something similar to what he experienced.</p><p> </p><p>At first, he didn’t want to go. But Kono, Chin, and Steve convinced him to finally give it a try. It ended up being a good thing, it was hard and he cried almost every session, but thanks to it he started to heal. During the firsts weeks of the group meeting, he left the building feeling lighter, and sleep started to come easier. Danny started to come to terms with what happened and with the fact that therapy and group sessions, and the help of his friends and mate, were the main reasons he started to get better.</p><p> </p><p>He’s glad to be proven wrong in this case.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s good to have more friends on the island,” Danny says after his little meditation.</p><p> </p><p>“You don’t hang out with your friends from HPD?” Steve asks and Danny snorts.</p><p> </p><p>“Friends as in plural noun that means you have more than one friend it’s too much,” Danny explains. “The only friend I made was my partner, Meka Hanamoa. Even if I worked as a detective with the shifter unit, nobody talked to me and I granted them the same courtesy.”</p><p> </p><p>Steve nods, still eating but looking at Danny.</p><p> </p><p>“So, Detective Hanamoa? Still meet with him for beers or anything?”</p><p> </p><p>“No. Actually, I haven’t talked with him for a while. We used to hang out all of the time, he and his wife. But after they gave me your dad’s case we had two different cases to investigate so there wasn’t enough time.”</p><p> </p><p>“Mmm…I’m trying to think why the other member of the shifter unit didn’t want to spend time with you. Maybe it’s your Jersey charm,” Steve teases, and Danny throws a napkin at him, annoyed.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I wasn’t used to it. Ok? Back in Newark, we didn’t have a shifter unit, there are too many people and everyone was mixed up together living in the same space area. So there’s no need for the special unit. Usually, we paired up a shifter with a non-shifter and that was it. Packs aren’t that big in the sense of owning territory like in here. And I didn’t feel like learning all the history and stuff from the older whales and wolves from the unit.”</p><p> </p><p>“Aha! So you were an ass. I don’t know why I’m not surprised.” Steve laughs at him.</p><p> </p><p>“Shut up. I’m perfectly capable of making friends. I just wasn’t in the right mindset during my time in HPD,” Danny defends himself.</p><p> </p><p>“I know, I know, I’m just teasing. But I get it. I’m more used to the shifter unit because my dad belonged to it his whole career. But in the Navy, it’s not like that. Everyone is mixed, shifting doesn’t matter that much,” Steve explains. “But you don’t work with the police anymore. At least not directly. So, you’re welcome,” Steve winks at him while drinking from his beer.</p><p> </p><p>“What’s that supposed to mean? I was basically forced to work with you,” Danny exclaims, one hand in the air and the other pointing at Steve from across the table. “You said to me, and I quote, ‘you got no choice about work, Detective. Governor gave me jurisdiction, and I’m making you my partner’. Where do you see free will in that? Huh? Where?!”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you complaining? Want to fill a report to your boss about the behavior of your partner? You know where the forms are and where to send them,” Steve says.</p><p> </p><p>“I would but my boss is a dick.” That makes Steve laugh and Danny smiles in return. “Besides, I wouldn’t know where to begin: dangling a perp from a roof, driving a car towards a moving ship, throwing someone at a shark tank…It’s too much for a poor little report.”</p><p> </p><p>“C’mon Danny, you love your job. Admit it. And you like being my partner. Kono and Chin are awesome. Plus, you have your own office instead of a desk in the same room as twenty people, and good insurance. Those are good work benefits and conditions.”</p><p> </p><p>Danny fake thinks about it, eating shrimp and ignoring Steve.</p><p> </p><p>“If you leave out the fact that I get constantly shot when I’m with you, then yes. Five-0 it’s pretty good.”</p><p> </p><p>“Please,” Steve says, rolling his eyes. “Don’t exaggerate. That nearly never happens.”</p><p> </p><p>“Says you,” Danny points out. “If it’s not a massive explosion then you don’t think it’s a big deal. But let me tell you, Steven, you’re wrong. Very, very, very wrong.”</p><p> </p><p>“Whatever you say, Danny. Even if rumor has it that you’re dating your boss,” Steve grins at him. “That has to come with added benefits.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hardly. It’s more of a constant headache,” Danny replies.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey!” Steve complaints, pouting.</p><p> </p><p>“Ugh, babe, don’t pout.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not,” says Steve, pouting harder.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re unbelievable,” Danny states. “Fine, fine. Courting you it’s one of the best things that happened to be, happy?”</p><p> </p><p>“Very much so.” Steve’s smile is all huge and dopey, and Danny can’t help but feel his heart melt a little bit.</p><p> </p><p><em>Endearing fucker</em>, Danny thinks.</p><p> </p><p>They keep talking and eating their shrimp until there’s no more food. Steve tries to convince him to walk a little bit on the sand, Danny flatly refuses. They compromise by walking on the waterfront, hands interlocked, still talking about everything and nothing. Danny told him about his youth in New Jersey, birthdays with a big family, and the snow. Steve, in return, shared his memories of baby Mary Ann, the tsunami alert of 1994, and his work as an heir of the pack.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you do as an heir?” Danny asks.</p><p> </p><p>Where he comes from, they don’t have the same pack hierarchy. The Williams family is the equivalent of a small clan in Hawaii: it’s not about family members or numbers, it’s about how much time you have spent on the same piece of land and how far back you can trace your family into the native history.</p><p> </p><p>“You have to be there for your people. Whatever they need. From helping mediate between family issues to be a babysitter when there’s a meeting in the packhouse. I helped rebuild houses, taught how to surf, being a representative of my pack with the local and federal government. Other stuff regarding what people produce on their land, business, and whatnot are duties for the pack leader.”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s hard to picture you being a babysitter, seeing as you have an <em>amazing</em> way with children,” Danny says with sarcasm.</p><p> </p><p>“And you say I was the dick?” Steve replies.</p><p> </p><p>Danny just rolls his eyes at him.</p><p> </p><p>“For your information, bird shifters as babies are terrible, so you have to be tough. I’m sorry if my experience with children wasn’t soft and flowery and whatever,” Steve retorts.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, babe, whatever you say,” says Danny.</p><p> </p><p>Steve drives them to Danny’s place, they argue about the music and the mirrors of the car. Steve gets out of the Camaro and hands the keys back to Danny.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t I get a ‘that was a good date’ kiss?” Steve asks, touching Danny’s elbow.</p><p> </p><p>“This was a date?” Danny asks, frowning.</p><p>“Of course it was!” Steve argues. “I took you out to eat, paid for our meal, we walked holding hands, we heard some romantic tunes on the car. How is that not a date?”</p><p> </p><p>“Please, tell me you’re not referring to ‘sexy eyes’ as a romantic song…” Danny pleads.</p><p> </p><p>“It is! It talks about love, passion, and dirty dancing,” Steve explains like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.</p><p> </p><p>“I will not dignify that question with an answer,” Danny states. “But I will admit that the walk near the ocean while holding hands was pretty romantic,” the omega says, walking closer to Steve and hugging his waist.</p><p> </p><p>“Then…do I get a kiss?” Steve asks, but he’s already leaning towards Danny, eyes closed, lips slightly parted.</p><p> </p><p>And who’s Danny to resist him?</p><p> </p><p>They kiss for a while, standing against the Camaro, trading soft and deep kisses. After a while, Steve walks Danny to his door and kisses him goodbye. After that he sleeps soundly and without any dreams, waking up refreshed; which is a good thing because the moment he steps in Five-0 headquarters, shit hits the fan.</p><p> </p><p>Danny confirms that in Hawaii there’s no such a thing as coincidence.</p><p>Yesterday, Steve and he were talking about Meka, and now Amy Hanamoa, Meka’s wife, is waiting for him at the palace. She’s pale and has eyebags as black as coffee. She’s shaking and due to the redness of her eyes, Danny can tell she’s been crying a lot. When he invites her to his office, he has to sit down when Amy starts to talk.</p><p> </p><p>Yesterday, Danny heard about someone planting the dead body of, what they assumed to be, an HPD officer in an Imu of a touristic Luau. The body was completely calcinated and holding an HPD badge on their mouth. He never, ever, thought that the body could belong to Meka. He can’t even fathom the thought of Meka being dead, even when the crying wife of his ex-partner is right in front of him.</p><p> </p><p>With the help of everyone in Five-0, they realize that Meka was being investigated for alleged corruption. And Danny wants to laugh, and cry, and maybe hit something because Meka was one of the most honorable men he knew, he couldn’t be dirty. The only member of HPD who wanted to help them, but in private and as anonymous as possible, was Detective Kaleo, no one else, and that made Danny’s blood boil.</p><p> </p><p>After some investigations, a bunch of outbursts, trips to HPD, and strapping a perp to the hood of his car so he could give them information about Meka’s case, they have a name and a lead.</p><p> </p><p>In the end, things are not perfect, but Danny is satisfied. He managed to clean Meka’s name and give him the funeral he deserved. Steve is there with him all of the time: serious and in a firm stance, wearing his dress blues, nearly flush with Danny’s side. It’s not perfect because they found out that what happened with Meka was connected with the mole inside HPD that they still couldn’t find.</p><p>“We’ll find him, don’t worry about it. We just need more time,” Steve says, patting him on his good knee.</p><p> </p><p>“I know…I know. I just wish we could have closed this,” Danny replies, and then sighs, relaxing against Steve’s couch.</p><p> </p><p>After the funeral, they went to Steve’s to have a beer and relax. Danny didn’t want to think about anything besides the taste of a good beer and the smell of his alpha. So far, having Steve by his side, surrounded by his smell, and a cold Longboard in hand are doing wonders to his nerves.</p><p> </p><p>“I understand. I want it done, too. And we will, I promise you,” Steve declares as he locks eyes with Danny.</p><p> </p><p>“I believe you,” Danny replies, smiling tiredly at Steve.</p><p> </p><p>Part II</p><p> </p><p>Danny regrets the day he made the connection between John McGarrett’s attack, Japanese drug cartels, and the Governor. </p><p>It wasn’t that complicated to connect, but Danny was the only one in Five-0 that had experience with drug cases. After Sang Min let slip that the Asians were related to the funding of all the human trafficking and the entry of illegal people, it wasn’t hard to track it down to Hiro Noshimuri. Hiro Noshimuri was close friends with Yao Fat, or at least they had various businesses together before the latter left the islands.  So they had a few common interests that might or might not involve killing the neighbor pack leader to win new territory. All of that, plus the information that Wo Lukela and Duke Lukela gave them about the investigation and information they managed to track before the Governor took the case from islanders-shifters HPD, was enough.</p><p>That’s the reason why the Governor wanted to give the case to Danny and not to other detectives of HPD. Danny was new, he wasn’t related to any pack so he had no idea of local history. He wouldn’t connect what happened thirty years ago with the McGarrett’s pack with the new crimes. </p><p>Danny feels guilty about that, too. Only if he had kept his mouth shut… but at the same time, that granted him the possibility of meeting Steve, his soul mate. </p><p>The problem wasn’t all that, it wasn’t connecting all of the dots and making all the leads and clues fit together, it was that the brainless neanderthal of his alpha went solo to the Governor’s mansion. Of all the things that could go wrong the Governor getting killed while Steve was there wasn’t something Danny thought would happen, but it did. And whoever killed Governor Jameson made it look like Steve was to blame.  It was so fucking painful, Danny is not ashamed to admit he whined like a cub when the officers pulled a handcuffed Steve to the cruiser. </p><p>Being away from Steve is terrible, he’ll admit that, too. He was incredibly adamant about keeping their space delineated and separated for the duration of their courting, but he got so used to the other man being by his side almost all of the time that now he misses him like a limb. And it’s been two days, two days of driving by himself, two days of leading clandestine Five-0, two days of avoiding the McGarretts like a plague. It’s been hard. Danny didn’t think he was so deeply connected to Steve until the alpha wasn’t there and the empty space, more like the fucking Grand Canyon, in his soul ached deeply. </p><p>Danny ends up shifting, he doesn't shift often. He doesn’t like it that much, at least not to do daily life things, but he needed the comfort his feline body gave him. And he runs, runs, and runs, without directions, until he ends up in the cemetery, following the path to his baby girl's grave by pure instinct. </p><p><em>Baby Girl Williams</em>, says the gravestone, but his mind immediately supplies it with Bean. She will always be his Bean. Thanks to Steve, his Ohana, and the pack, the pain is not that sharp, is almost bearable. But he’ll always mourn her, he’ll always ache for her, and Danny will never forget her. Forever his Bean. Danny might daydream about having twenty kids with Steve (another thing he won’t admit), but Bean will always be his first child. And he'll make sure every child he has knows that they have an older sister watching them from heaven. </p><p>Despite everything, being courted by Steve is...everything he had ever wanted. His relationship with Rachel was intense, she hit him with his car and he fell for her just as hard as when he fell to the ground due to the car hitting him. It ended the same way, they shone but they burned. But Steve...Steve was like water running its course against a rock, sooner or later the water will break the rock just enough to create a route. The rock will still be there but forever changed because of the water, and the water will never stop coursing. Danny felt like that, sometimes like the rock, most of the time, but Steve had the ability to make him feel like water, too. </p><p>Even if the alpha hates the fact they didn't live together, he respects his choice, even if he manages to fit himself in every aspect of Danny's life so they spend a lot of time together. Steve was solemn and heartbroken when Danny introduced him to Bean, and Danny almost cried when, a week later, he found fresh flowers on her grave that smelled like the goof that was his alpha, and Steve kept visiting without Danny, which made the omega's heart grow and fall more for him. </p><p>Steve is an intense man, he shows his intensity with his actions, the decisions he took, and the pheromones he often projected. But he is also very timid, quiet, and shy, which baffled Danny to no end. Steve flushes more easily than most people thought, he has a hard time expressing his feelings and explaining why things bothered him. Steve was also an amazing cop, and a really good leader, even if he fucked up and went ballistic, even if he sometimes believed he still was with the SEALs and Danny had to scream his lungs out to prevent him from throwing people off roofs. </p><p>Was it too soon to say he loves him? Fuck if Danny cares, he feels what he feels and he's too old to be hiding whatever he's feeling. Their biology might be telling them they are a perfect fit, but the passing of time and Steve’s actions and personality took care of showing him that they can be partners and best friends, too. And Danny wants that, he really wants that. </p><p>But they can't court with Steve in jail. </p><p>They can’t keep investigating if he’s in jail. </p><p>And Danny seriously underestimated his will to keep doing stuff when Steve is not by his side. </p><p>Steve, but also Chin and Kono, have helped him feel more at home, more comfortable in this place. Jersey will always have the first place in his heart, his mom, pops, siblings, and nephews are there so it will always be important. But in Hawaii rests his Bean, and it’s the house of his mate and newfound family. It’s unbelievable but Danny wants to stay. But without Steve, things don’t seem that bright and optimistic anymore. Danny was happy by himself, or at least the time in between his divorce and before losing Bean, but now it’s hard to imagine a happy life without Steve. </p><p>Fucking alpha, why couldn’t he wait for backup or make another plan? Danny is so mad at him for that...</p><p>Danny smells <em>him</em>, but he doesn't turn his head or shift to human. He waits calmly for John McGarrett to roll his way to him. Danny is surprised with the recovery of his father-in-law, he’s a strong man and he doesn’t complain, and he’s showing the incredible amount of strength he had gained during the first month out of the hospital by rolling his wheelchair without help in the grass. </p><p>“A few years ago, I was still working with HPD while running the pack. A new Governor took charge, the change in the crime scene was drastic, so I thought that both things had to be related. When no one seemed to think the same, and even when I realized some higher powers were turning blind eyes to the new situations I realized something wasn’t right. So I might have...installed some stuff to guarantee background and proof when and if necessary. I tried, since he was arrested, to think of a way to get this information to be legal. But I can’t. Joe mentioned you, and I have to admit, Danny, I was so focused on getting Steve out of jail that I completely forgot he has a mate who is a goddamn good cop that could help us.”</p><p>Danny turns to look at him, surprised to see the arrangement of flowers in John’s lap. The man looks serious, no emotions, but he smells distressed, the pain of having a pup taken from him permeates his skin, and Danny relates. He nods slowly, and John nods back. </p><p>“You understand this is a secret, and that it should stay a secret. I don’t care about me, I’m retired and my pack has my back, they don’t care about silly things such as bureaucracy or ranks outside of pack law. But my husband does, and this can mess with Joe’s career. That man loves the Navy, he’s the one that planted the seed of becoming a sailor in Steve, he’ll be devastated if something happens and he ends up dishonorably discharged. And I know he’ll do it in a heartbeat to get Steve out of jail. But I’m trying to do the best I can for the men I love. I’m sure you understand.”</p><p>Danny nods again, he’ll do everything in his power to help. And he knows that Steve loves Joe deeply, and he wouldn’t allow the Navy to fuck Joe up, even if it’s because Joe tried to help Steve. </p><p>“Perfect. I’m glad we understand each other. Now, Steve mentioned that there’s a grandkid of mine I haven’t introduced myself to, and I want to fix that mistake right now.”</p><p>Danny wants to get mad, he does, it was supposed to be a secret, he told Steve in a moment of deep weakness and intimacy.  But he only can watch in complete silence as John McGarrett places the flowers on top of Bean’s grave and starts to talk. </p><p>
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</p><p>Duke and Wo Lukela are not surprised to see him, nor Chin on their doorstep. Duke is surprised to see Kono there, but he doesn’t say anything. And Wo just looks at her like he can’t believe someone so young can be a police officer and work in a task force. </p><p>“Well...the task force is in stand by for the moment, we’re...kind of doing our own thing,” Danny admits. John and Steve trust the Lukelas, and apparently so does Chin, so their word is enough for the omega. </p><p>“As in trying to prove Steve’s innocence,” Chin adds. </p><p>“Ah, of course. Whatever you need,” Wo nods solemnly, showing them the dinner table so they can leave their stuff. </p><p>“Most of us don’t believe that Steve killed the Governor, “ says Duke, following them and looking as Kono opens her laptop and various paper files over the table. “But there was a group that was too eager to get him. I thought it was weird, and when John contacted me… I knew that HPD was related to all this.”</p><p>“When we first dealt with Sang Min,” Kono says, “he called someone in HPD to ask if I was a cop or a civilian. He had someone inside, someone who’s still working for the people who hired Hesse.” </p><p>Both Duke and Wo nod. </p><p>“We have proof enough to know it’s Yao Fat who killed the Governor and that he’s on the island, and he’s not done killing,” Chin informs them, and with a few clicks on the laptop, he shows them a capture they took from a surveillance camera outside of the Lukela’s house. “We believe he’s trying to get inside this house and get to you.”</p><p>Danny looks at how Wo Lukela gets angry, his eyes on fire, his fists clenched, but his face remains passive. His dad, on the other hand, it’s out of his mind, he’s talking with Chin, planning on security plans, and thinking about moving to a different location. Danny knows Steve has always felt weird with Wo Lukela, who was born Wo Fat, and he can’t blame him, he shares the thought that in another life Wo could have been a source of never-ending troubles and pain. But, besides his weird facial features, he doesn’t smell like a psycho killer or anything weird. It’s just...his face: cheekbones too high and prominent, jaw too square, eyes too black.  </p><p>“We think Yao Fat wanted to take the McGarrett pack again, and that the Governor wasn’t that open to the idea”, Danny explains, trying to keep his temper at bay. “Yes to human trafficking, yes to heavy drugs, yes to arms deals, and yes to fund a task force just to cover her ass, but it seems that the leadership of one of the biggest paks of Oahu was too much. Yao Fat didn’t like that idea so he killed her, and it seems he’s been tracking Steve’s and Wo’s steps because he knew what Steve was trying to do and set him up.”</p><p>“Oh gods,” mumbles Duke, sitting down. “Son, you have to get out of here. Go to one of your houses on the mainland. Visit a friend on another continent. I can’t have you here. Take your sister and your mother with you, we’ll deal with it.”</p><p>“There’s no way I’m leaving Oahu with Yao Fat on the island. Not after knowing what he did to John and Steve. I’m not leaving you alone, and if that man wants to find me, he can, and I’ll show him all the training you made me do in the shooting range” the younger Lukela replies. </p><p>“Is there any reason Yao Fat might want to hurt someone from your family, Wo?” Asks Danny. </p><p>“Yes,” the man replies, and Duke falls silent, closing his eyes. “Many years ago, on my 18th birthday, we received a letter. It wasn’t signed or dated, it only said ‘you’re my son, the rightful heir, this family dishonors you’. Nothing else.”</p><p>“What did you do with it?” Chin adds. </p><p>“We sent it to HPD, no fingerprints or recognizable handwriting,” says Duke. “We had the whole house and the kids under surveillance for six months, and nothing happened. Time passed and we thought it was an empty threat.”</p><p>“When I managed to land my first big investment, I hired the help of some experts and U of H, they confirmed that the ink used in the letter belongs to a special kind of writing pen that it’s handcrafted in China. And so does the paper, special whitened rice paper from the same location as the ink,” Wo Lukela comments. </p><p>“The locations of the handcrafters was the same of Yao Fat’s hometown, plus the ink matched with some legal documents he signed when he was still part of the Noshimuri pack,” Duke finishes. “I thought he wanted to hurt Wo, Carrie, or Nalani.”</p><p>Kono, Chin, and Danny share a look. </p><p>“Where are they?” Asks Danny. </p><p>“Upstairs, with Akela watching some movie.”</p><p>“We have to keep an eye on them,” explains Kono. “If Yao Fat thinks your family is in some way affecting his plans, is best to be prepared.”</p><p>“I’ll do whatever it takes to get that sick man as far away from my family as possible,” says Wo, looking at them. </p><p>“Glad you say that, man, because you’re a big part of plan A,” Danny states. </p><p>
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</p><p>Danny’s plan wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t that complicated either. So, obviously, Steve had to fuck it up by escaping jail. </p><p>Kono put the Lukelas in a safe place with the old aunties of the Kalakaua-Kelly clan, except Wo and Duke, Wo because he was the supposed bait and Duke because he refused to leave his son. Chin, Danny, and Toast, their personal hacker,  waited patiently on Joe, covering his back and deleting his tracks until the man found what he was looking for under many security walls younger John McGarrett had once built with the help of the Navy Intelligence. And they got it. </p><p>A perfectly recorded video of Steve talking with the Governor, who admitted numerous crimes, and then, someone, whose face the video didn’t catch, tased Steve until the alpha fell unconscious. Then Yao Fat appears on the screen, proceeding to shoot Patricia Jameson twice and left the gun in Steve’s unmovable hand. </p><p>Toast,  Five-0 non-official hacker, worked well enough to make it seem like the video was from one of Jameson’s personal security cameras, and everything was settled. The only part left of the plan was cornering Yao Fat, showing him the video, and make him confess the crime to his ‘son’. Everything was being recorded and would be shown to Lieutenant Governor Denning. </p><p>But Steve had to get out of jail and ruin everything. </p><p>Danny feels sick with worry and anger. No one knows where Steve is; he had been on his way to the hospital in an ambulance because Victor fucking Hesse stabbed him The alpha escaped from the ambulance, fought a cop, stole a squad car with an open wound. Danny was going to kill him, after making sure he was all right, Danny was going to fucking kill him. </p><p>Max’s call was the relief Danny needed. Chin drove them there, fast, and Danny felt his knees wobble at the strong smell of his alpha coming from inside Max’s house, they’ll need to do something with the scent fast or others will notice the aroma of stressed alpha a mile away. </p><p>“What the hell is the matter with you? Huh?! What’s the matter with you?! Breaking out of jail, taking out a cop. You lost your mind?” Letting out the pent-up anger is a relief, his whole body aches to be closer to Steve, to touch him, to smell him, to leave his scent all over the alpha. But he’s mad, so mad, so fucking mad right now that he can’t beat the thought of being close to Steve without choking him or mating him immediately. So he gets mad instead. And letting go of his worries by verbalizing them is a relief he didn’t know he needed. </p><p>“Why are you yelling at me?” Steve retorts, offended that the first thing Danny did was yell at him. </p><p>He ends up getting away from Steve and breathing, trying to regain control of his emotions. Joe calls them saying that the location where they want to lure Yao Fat is settled, that everyone believes Wo Lukela will complete a transaction with some businessman in a small restaurant. Said restaurant is owned by one of Kamekona’s cousins and some undercover HPD officers of the shifter unit, which belong to the Kalakaua-Kelly clan, will act as customers. Hopefully, they will catch Yao Fat, and if everything runs smoothly, also the mole in HPD. </p><p>Chin leaves with Max, they want to get rid of the car Steve hijacked, secure the zone of the pretend business deal and make sure they tip HPD mole at the right time. So they leave Danny and Steve alone. Danny thinks it’s a plot to let them let off some steam and tension before the mission. Danny is still mad at Steve, he wants to highlight that, but he ends up kissing him anyway like a starving man the minute they’re alone. </p><p>The smell and taste of his mate are enough to make him feel better, more secure, and certain. The need to be closer to Steve is uncontrollable, so Danny plasters himself to him, chest to chest, hands in Steve’s hair, deepening their kiss. Unable to control a growl, Danny clings to Steve, wanting to leave his scent all over the other man’s body, desperate to be one with him. So Danny kisses him with everything, opening his mouth and licking deeply into Steve’s mouth, the need growing stronger and stronger. </p><p>They didn’t mate in the middle of Max’s living room because they still have some sense of decency (what’s worse than leaving mating scent on someone else’s couch?) and know it’s not the time, but barely. Steve sucks him off and ruts against the folds of his pussy until he comes all over him. Danny complains with no real heat behind his words when Steve rubs all of his come against Danny’s abs and his chest. He’s too hairy, damn it! But deep down he feels settled with such a blatant mark. If Danny kind of did the same with his spit, spit that was also mixed with his own come because they kissed after Steve made him come, he’s not ashamed to admit he needed to mark him back. They’re in an equal relationship, after all, they’re not an alpha-omega couple of a hundred years ago. </p><p>“C’mon, we have a maniac to catch,” Danny mumbles against Steve’s lips</p><p>
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</p><p>Kono and Danny were inside the location, sitting in strategic places so no one can see them from the door but they still have a good view of the entrance. Chin and Steve waited in the backroom, hidden from everyone and keeping an eye on every security camera they hid inside and outside the restaurant. Everyone was in place and they just had to wait. </p><p>“I hate this,” mumbles Steve into Danny’s comm. </p><p>Danny just snorts, fixing his shades up his nose and rearranging the newspaper he’s fake reading while eating a plate of fried shrimp. </p><p>“I know being patient it’s not one of your virtues but we only have to wait five minutes for Wo to appear,” Danny whispers back. and Steve, literally, growls on the mic. “Five fucking minutes, Steven, please.”</p><p>“Ugh, fine.” </p><p>Danny lets the newspaper down and checks the menu. For sake of authenticity, Kamekona’s cousins are really cooking in the kitchen in the back and serving real food. He just ordered what he always ordered at Kamekona’s, because fried shrimp had never betrayed him. But now that he pays closer attention to the menu, Danny quickly realizes it is a mistake. </p><p>“Tacos al pastor with extra pineapple?!” Danny retorts in a whisper. “What’s the matter with you people?”</p><p>Danny can hear Chin laughing through the comm, and Steve has a smile on his tone when he replies. </p><p>“Hawaiians like pineapple, Danny, that’s not a surprise.”</p><p>“Why does a perfectly balanced meal such as tacos al pastor need anything extra? It has the right amount of everything, and that includes the freaking pineapples. Maybe you want to add some salsa, or pico de gallo, but that’s it!” Danny wants to yell and slam his hands against the table, but he compromises by just speaking quickly. </p><p>“Shh, keep it down, or you’ll blow your cover,” Steve says, but he’s still laughing in his ear. </p><p>“It’s your fault,” Danny hisses back, eyes darting to the door to check that Yao Fat, or anyone suspicious, has entered the restaurant. “We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you and your need to go all ninja super-SEAL on the Governor.”</p><p>“Super-SEAL?” Steve asks. </p><p>“Yes, that’s you,” Danny replies. </p><p>“You’re being quite imaginative during this situation, Danny,” Chin comments, and that makes Steve laugh. </p><p>The omega grits his teeth, he wants to slap both alpha and beta. Making fun of him in a situation where he can’t defend himself physically? Assholes. </p><p>“You’re lucky I put up with you, McGarrett. And I’m not even talking to you, Chin,” Danny replies, biting the inside of his cheek. “I don’t know why I agreed to have you as our back up in the controls when you might get me shot <em>again</em>, just to annoy me.”</p><p>“I have your back, brah, you don’t have to worry about a thing,” Chin assures him. </p><p>Danny sighs. </p><p>“Thank you, Chin. I wonder why I’m not dating you and decided to settle with the one that already got me shot and intoxicated.”</p><p>Steve growls so loud that Danny can’t help but flinch. Kono sends him a wary look and he nods. God, this man is making him act so unprofessional. </p><p>“Danny, please. We have had an amazing time together. Swimming with the dolphins? Hiking? Our date to the house of the malasadas maker? Do you remember that? You had to unbutton your pants because you ate too much,” Steve says, and Danny can hear a little pleading tone in his voice. </p><p>He’s so whipped for Steve it’s ridiculous, he can’t even focus completely when he’s in the middle of a life or death situation. Everyone is supposed to be working a hundred percent on trying to arrest Yao Fat and clean Steve’s name. So he just shakes his head and gets his mind back on the game. </p><p>“I hate you,” Danny mumbles, checking his surroundings again. </p><p>“No, you don’t,” replies Steve and he’s so smug about it that Danny wants to punch him or kiss him, or both. </p><p>After that everything happens too quickly. </p><p>Wo Lukela enters the restaurant in a suit that costs more than Danny’s car, and he sits alone at a table. He has enough time to check his watch and order something to eat when a man dressed in black enters the restaurant pointing a gun directly at Wo Lukela. It’s stupidly easy after that, every single HPD officer jumps to it and has the man tackled down.</p><p>Chin is telling him there was someone outside the restaurant that is trying to run after hearing the commotion and is making his way to the parking lot. Danny is on his feet in less than a second and running behind their runaway when Chin is still giving him directions. Danny realizes he’s been spending too much time with Steve when he doesn’t even think about tackling the other man, smashing the guy’s face into the ground. Man who turns out to be Detective Kaleo. </p><p>Suddenly everything makes sense to Danny: Kaleo is the mole. Kaleo was the one who informed Sang Min that Kono was a cop, and he must be the one who made everyone believe Meka was dirty. And probably he knew about Steve’s plan that landed him in Yao Fat’s trap. </p><p>“You son of a bitch,” Danny mumbled while forcing Kaleo to face him, still straddling him. “You fucking piece of shit,” and he hits him, fist hard against the other man’s nose. </p><p>Danny can’t stop, he just keeps hitting him until he feels someone grabs his shoulders. Danny is crying, his knuckles are bleeding, and Kaleo is barely conscious and immobile. </p><p>“C’mon, Danny, let go,” Steve speaks behind him. “HPD has to take him,” the alpha tries again in a soothing tone. </p><p>Danny doesn’t reply, he just stands and gets out of the way. Some officers quickly turn and cuff Kaleo, pulling him towards an ambulance. That nearly makes Danny bolt again towards the restrained man. Meka is dead because of that man, he doesn’t deserve any care, he doesn’t deserve to go to a hospital <em>alive. </em>Steve got stabbed and hurt in jail because Kaleo wanted to work with the bad guys. Danny should shoot him. </p><p>“Danny…” Steve says again, but now he’s holding Danny’s hand. </p><p>The omega breathes deeply, smelling his alpha and the constant scent of ocean and sand permeating Hawaii’s breeze. </p><p>At least that son of a bitch is going to prison. </p><p>He hadn’t realized how long he had chased Kaleo to catch him, but apparently, it was quite a bit because they were, at least, five minutes away from the fake restaurant. </p><p>Danny breathes deeply again, gaining more control over himself. </p><p>“I’m ok, we have work to do, you’re still a fugitive of the law,” Danny says. </p><p>“You have to check that out,” Steve points at his hand, which’s swollen and bleeding a little, “I don’t think it's broken but it looks too swollen for my comfort.”</p><p>Danny looks down at his hands. He didn’t feel a thing due to adrenaline, maybe his legs will start to shake and his hands will hurt later when all the rush goes out of him. </p><p>“It’s ok.” Danny tries to dismiss it. </p><p>“No, it's not.” Steve insists. He can’t stand seeing his mate hurt.  “Get that looked at and I’ll update you on what you missed.”</p><p>Danny agrees reluctantly, and he takes a mental note that he’ll use this opportunity to force Steve to go to the paramedics whenever necessary. </p><p>On the one hand, Danny’s hand is not broken, just swollen and his knuckles were covered with antiseptics and some gauze. Steve sniffs and rubs at the bandage for a while until he was happy with the way Danny’s hand smelled. On the other hand, Yao Fat didn’t arrive at the location, he sent one of his men with Kaleo to kidnap Wo Lukela. The man has a long police record and was currently looked at by Interpol, and due to his connections with human and gun trafficking the chances that the man had information on Yao Fat were high. </p><p>“That’s not all,” Chin says, joining the conversation. “We found some pretty interesting things inside their car. Would you believe they also had access to the camera inside Governor Jameson’s feed?”</p><p>“They do?” Danny asks. </p><p>“Yes. But they were dumb enough to leave everything, even various backups of the recordings including the part where Steve gets knocked out cold and Yao kills the governor,” Chin adds. </p><p>Danny raises his eyebrows, impressed by the level of stupidity some high profile criminals had. </p><p>When they arrive at the car, still parked in front of the restaurant, the sight that welcomes them is worrisome, to say the least: Lieutenant Governor Denning is watching as some HPD tech reproduces videos on the found laptop inside the car. Danny, Chin, and Steve tense, they were supposed to be hiding Steve and trying to keep his profile low until he was free of charges. Their plan didn’t include facing the Governor upfront. Every instinct in Danny screamed that if someone tried to take Steve away from him once again, he’ll snap and bite some heads off. </p><p>“I think we have found ourselves in a misunderstanding regarding Commander McGarrett’s actions, gentlemen,” the Lieutenant Governor says upon seeing them. </p><p>And Danny doesn’t know how Steve manages to convince the Governor, but in less than ten minutes Five-0 is restored with all their members. </p><p>
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</p><p>It happens one of the mornings where Danny wakes up in Steve’s bed because, in the middle of a nightmare induced panic, he drove to the McGarrett’s house and broke into Steve’s room. </p><p>One of the main reasons Danny can’t rest properly at night is the security system at the house of the leader of the pack. Even after everything that happened with John, and the potential threat of Yao Fat, Shelbourne, or anyone trying to hurt them, they haven’t upgraded the alarm. It drives the omega nuts. Danny managed to convince them to change the codes of the doors. He’ll make them upgrade their security system even if Danny has to install it himself. </p><p>Before Steve, he only had nightmares that involved the loss of baby Bean. But now, he constantly fears something happening to the alpha: inside his house, out in the open, while buying groceries, and so on. Danny’s imagination has no limits in regards to negative thinking. The nightmare that made him drive that night to Steve’s was a more gory and sadistic version of Steve getting hauled to jail. It was so bad and so realistic that he still was kind of shaking when he slid into Steve’s bed. He only calmed down when the alpha rolled to rest against Danny’s chest and Danny could surround him with his arms and make sure, double sure, that Steve was safe. The other man understands, he has nightmares about the war, about the ops he had to conduct as a SEAL, and the saddest thing, or the thing that breaks Danny’s heart, is the fact that Steve can’t tell him what happened because it’s classified. So he just clings to Danny and cries for what seems like hours, until he falls asleep in exhaustion. </p><p>So it was one of those mornings when he wakes up because it’s too warm, but he refuses to move or push Steve away. He’s too comfortable in his alpha’s arms to move anywhere but closer. </p><p>“Finally, I thought you’ll never wake up,” Steve complains and Danny just groans, stretching his legs and tightening his arms around Steve’s shoulders. </p><p>“Shut up,” Danny mumbles, trying to arrange his body so he can go back to sleep, but Steve chuckles to prevent him from falling into a light slumber again. “Ugh…”</p><p>“You’re beautiful,” Steve declares. </p><p>Steve rolls to set himself on top of Danny, supporting his body with one arm. Steve starts to kiss his chest, scattering kisses all the way to his neck, licking and sucking little marks while making his way to Danny’s jaw. Steve bites his chin with more intent, kissing a wet trail to Danny’s ear, biting his lobe lightly. Danny can’t help but moan at the feel; his ears are really sensitive and Steve’s stubble leaves a tingly feeling on his skin that Danny is still relishing. </p><p>Danny finds Steve’s mouth, kissing him softly at first, a short kiss. Then another one, and another, and another, and Steve cheats because he looks at Danny with lust-filled eyes from behind his long lashes, and Danny can’t resist him like that, so he kisses him again. They share closed-mouth kisses, caressing each other with passion while slowly getting undressed. Danny keeps that rhythm up until the feel of Steve naked against him, nestled in between his legs is too much. All of that tanned and hot tattooed skin against his feels awesome, Steve’s hard cock resting like a promise against Danny’s thigh. So he just kisses him deeply, licking at Steve’s lips until the alpha opens his mouth and Danny can slide his tongue inside. </p><p>Steve bites his bottom lip lightly, and then he starts to pull it with his teeth, and Danny pants at the mix of pain and pleasure that Steve’s ministrations provoke. The omega hugs Steve’s hips with his legs, getting him closer, feeling as Steve’s cock shifts to rest closer to his pussy, just behind his cock, and he can’t help but grind his hips up, making Steve groan and grind back. Danny cups Steve’s ass with both hands, pushing him closer, rutting against him in just the perfect way, the both of them moaning at the new angle. </p><p>“Fuck, Danny, you feel so good,” Steve pants against his mouth. </p><p>One of Steve’s hands still holding his weight and the other toying with Danny’s nipples, that feels so good that Danny moans in encouragement, while caressing the other man’s buttocks with his palms, and those long legs with his feet. Steve gets the message and with one last kiss that leaves them breathless, the alpha moves his head to Danny’s chest and starts to lick and bite at the omega’s nipples. </p><p>“Yeah, babe…” Danny sighs, feeling how he’s starting to sweat a little because of the heat and the exertion. </p><p>Slowly, he lets go of Steve’s ass with one hand, still staking his claim with the other hand, and scratches his back on his way, enjoying the feeling of strong muscles and firm shoulders. Danny grabs at Steve’s hair, pulling slightly, knowing the alpha loves the feeling, and that it’s confirmed when Steve moans pitifully against the nipple he was lapping at when Danny pulls his hair again. </p><p>“Danny, don’t tease,” Steve warns, but Danny just smirks mischievously and pulls at his hair again, making him moan and gasp in reflex. </p><p>Steve growls, one second Danny is still smirking with his hand in one asscheek and the other tangled into the alpha’s hair, and the next Steve is kissing him passionately, holding both of his wrists in a tight grip above his head. </p><p>“That’s cheating…” Danny mumbles against Steve’s lips, but the other man doesn’t reply, just keeps kissing Danny, getting harder and more riled up when Danny doesn’t fight back, just submits and goes plaint under him. </p><p>Danny’s kisses are mellow, almost shy, and Steve’s wolf almost roars with the feeling of being in control. The omega feels the moment where Steve gets lost in the feeling of control. <em>Silly alpha, </em>he thinks, repressing a smirk and canting his hips so his partner can rub against his folds. Steve moans at the feeling, Danny knows the other man loves that, loves the feeling of his cunt surrounding his cock, the wetness, the warmth that is a tempting invitation to the alpha. Slowly, but with firm movements, Danny lets his hips rut more directly against Steve, just so the tip of his cock rubs relentlessly against Danny’s opening. </p><p>The alpha is completely lost to the feeling, eyes closed, mouth open, breathing hard against Danny’s jaw, where he refuses to stop kissing or licking him. He’s so lost in the moment that Danny slowly moves his hands out of Steve’s grip and interlocks their fingers. It’s sappy but Danny loves the feeling of those huge hands in between his. Those hands that can kill and destroy, but that are always gentle and soft with him. He relishes for a few seconds the weight of Steve on top of him, how so damn good it feels to have his chest against his, how nicely his legs fit around Steve’s hips, his kisses and touches. Danny loves all of that. </p><p>But Danny is not a weak omega who will submit just because his alpha growled a little bit and held his hands. Hell no. He might be short, but Steve has another thing coming if he thinks that Danny is that easy. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with it, no, and Danny enjoys the idea of just giving it up to Steve in the future. But he enjoys the idea of also having control, of having Steve being putty in his hands, and having to work for it. </p><p><em>Yeah</em>. </p><p>So, holding tight to Steve’s hips, Danny flips them, landing with a huff and a smile on top of him. Steve looks stunned, blinking in surprise. Danny starts to grind against Steve, sensual and slow, making the other man feel like crawling out of his skin with want. Steve’s cock rutted against Danny’s inner thigh and balls, one of his hands grips the blond’s hip while the other teases a nipple, making Danny stutter a little bit in his movement. The change of pace makes Steve’s cock and knot shift towards Danny’s pussy, and they both moan when the alpha’s dick slots itself in between Danny’s folds and his cockhead teases his cunt. </p><p>“Fuck, Danny, right there,” Steve grunts, enjoying the feeling of Danny’s tight opening kissing his cock. </p><p>It feels intense like it’s too much, but neither of them can stop. Steve moves his hands out of Danny’s hold until he’s cupping the nape of his neck, bringing Danny down to a dirty kiss, sucking his tongue right into his mouth, devouring the other man. </p><p>“I love you,” mumbles Steve against his lips, voice deep with desire. </p><p>Danny feels his chest expand with warmth. </p><p>“I love you, too,” Danny declares, unable to stay quiet or deny his feelings any longer. </p><p>They look at each other for a few seconds, not moving or saying anything, just basking in the look in each other's eyes, lost in their bond. And it clicks. Suddenly they know it’s the right time, the perfect moment to consummate their bond. They know it’s not mandatory to wait until the mating ceremony, that at that moment it’s only required to certify Steve and Danny’s commitment to the pack. But their first time can be private, and both of them feel that this moment it’s the perfect one. And just because they can, they kiss again. </p><p>Without letting go of him, Steve stretches one arm towards the nightstand in search of a condom, but when Danny realizes what he’s doing he slaps at Steve’s hand until the alpha drops it. Steve looks at Danny, confused. The omega must know that even if neither of them is in a mating cycle, he can still knock Danny up. </p><p>“Who mates with a condom on, Steve?” Danny berates, frowning. </p><p>“We might...you know…” Even if he’s completely naked, lying under his soon-to-be-mate, Steve can’t manage to say it. They have talked about it, Danny is healing, they both want kids as soon as possible; even so, the idea of hurting Danny by talking about kids it’s still something he tries to avoid. But the idea of breeding Danny during their first mating makes him harden even more, more desperate to be inside his omega. </p><p>“I think someone promised me as many kids as I wanted. And I’m not losing any time, babe, so buckle up,” Danny replies. </p><p>Steve just smirks, using the hand he still has on Danny’s nape to kiss him. At the same time, Danny rises a little bit on his knees and lets Steve’s cock slide inside of him, bottoming out in a single and smooth movement that leaves both of them panting. </p><p>“Shit, shit, Danny, fuck yeah, you feel amazing,” Steve moans, eyes closed, hips moving on their own to start the friction inside that tight and wet passage. </p><p>“That’s right, right fucking there,” Danny cries in reply, moving in tandem with Steve, lost in pleasure. </p><p>It’s unbelievably good, they make love with Danny riding Steve with passion, lost in their shared ecstasy, murmuring praises and promises of eternal love against each other’s lips. They’re so connected that Danny doesn’t even have time to register his knee is starting to bother him when Steve, in a swift move, and without pulling out, has them flipped and Danny’s knee braced against his hip and held with one hand so it’s elevated. </p><p>“Fuck, I love you so much, Steve,” Danny cries, wrapping both of his arms so his elbows rest against Steve’s shoulders, plastering their chest together and making Steve’s knot slip inside his cunt. “<em>Shit, shit, </em>it’s inside. You knotting, babe? Wanna knot me?” Danny pants, feeling how the knot grows bigger and bigger. </p><p>Steve can’t reply, he just grunts and snaps his hips harder, resting more of his weight against Danny. They can’t be any closer, but Steve’s alpha mind demands that he tries, that he just melt his skin against Danny, to kiss him without letting any air in, and to knot him tight and breed him so everyone knows that Danny is carrying Steve’s pups. He wants to be connected to Danny, just like this, forever, and have material proof of their bonding, their closeness, their love. Steve is babbling sweet nothings against Danny, unable to tear his mouth from the omega, promising him the earth and the moon and everything he might want. And when Steve thought it was impossible to feel anything more mind-blowing than this than having Danny all around him while fucking into his wet pussy, Steve’s knot catches. </p><p>At the feel Danny clenches and comes, moaning so beautifully, nearly howling with pleasure. The visual is so intense that Steve comes too, unable to help himself</p><p>The world just stops. </p><p>Danny regains consciousness first, realizing that just mere seconds had passed since their orgasms. They’re still shaking and his cock is still oozing bits of come. Steve’s hips keep snapping a little bit, coming for longer periods, but the alpha is still lost in it, eyes closed, mouth open. Danny caresses his face, wipes the sweat at his forehead, and combs the unruly hairs that stuck to the alpha’s skin, delighting in his beautiful face. But Danny had come to care and love what was inside that beautiful man: a sharp mind, a loving soul, a loyal friend, a fearless leader. </p><p>He’s completely and utterly in love with Steve, and now they have bonded, he can feel their connection mumbling in a soft echo in the back of his mind. They still have a step to take to make it complete, to seal it forever, but the feeling of having Steve so deep and entwined with himself is already amazing. </p><p>Danny feels when Steve starts to wake up, stirring slowly and blinking up at him. After a few seconds of groggily shaking off sleep, the alpha smiles at him. </p><p>They’re still knotted, they can’t get away from each other. But distance seems to be the farthest thing in Steve’s mind because, with a determined look, he grabs Danny’s face and pushes it against his neck with clear intent. Danny’s instincts are simmering beneath his skin, so with a deep growl, he bites at Steve’s neck over the mating glands, sealing his side of the deal, and marking Steve as his mate forever. Danny curves his neck, inviting Steve to do the same, and the alpha doesn’t hesitate. </p><p>They were finally mated. </p><p>
  <strong>┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>It’s a beautiful night: the sky is clear, the stars shine brightly, there’s a third-quarter moon, and it’s cold enough for Danny to feel comfortable under the light of the torches and the white sheet that covers the mating bed. The nightly breeze is soft, so the ocean is calm and the tree leaves move in a calm sway</p><p> </p><p>The perfect moment to host a mating ceremony.</p><p> </p><p>Mamo Kahike, one of the elders of the McGarrett pack, led the ceremony. It was short and simple, and Danny didn’t understand most of the words that were being said, but the general meaning of them wasn’t lost to him: it was more than a public claiming, Danny and Steve will belong to each other forever, swearing to love and protect each other on their eternal bond in front of all the pack and their gods. Danny didn’t quite believe in the Hawaiian deities, but he still felt nervous, he didn't want to mess up, anger the spirits, and end up with a giant rock on his windshield or something worse. Mamo made them repeat some ancient oaths, after that they joined their hands together with some vines and flowers and vowed to love each other and to belong to each other as long as their love lasted. After that, Danny swore to be loyal to the McGarrett pack and their people, vowing to be always there for them and doing everything in his power to serve them and protect them. They seal the ceremony with a kiss while the whole pack cheers and claps in happiness.</p><p> </p><p>When everything was said and done, and the blessings have been shared and witnessed by all the guests, Mamo mumbled something, and the vines and flowers that still surrounded their hands started to glow. Within seconds, the flowers had untangled themselves from their hands and started to float into the sky.</p><p> </p><p>“Whenever those come back,” said Mamo to Danny, “they’ll fall and grow into a plant. That symbolizes the acceptance of the land to your union. If you ever come across your mating flower, the legend says you can ask for a wish and it will become true.”</p><p> </p><p>Danny and Steve just smile at each other, the same thought in their minds: every wish they could ever have has already become true because they have each other.</p><p> </p><p>The second part of the mating ceremony, surprisingly, happens quickly and without fuzz. Steve got Danny one of those white big beds he had requested, to minimize the amount of sand in their bodies. They make love in front of their pack, who witnesses their connection and passion. Steve shows off a little bit, making Danny moan out loud without shame. Steve knots him firmly and deep, with Danny on top of him with his back against Steve’s chest so everyone who wants to watch can see the knotting. Danny makes Steve whimper as he milks the alpha’s knot, making him come four times during the time the knot lasts.</p><p> </p><p>“It wasn’t that bad, wasn’t it?” Steve asks.</p><p> </p><p>They’re dozing in the bed, covered with the sheets, the rest of the pack already scattered everywhere eating and having fun. John and Joe went to congratulate them when they were still knotted, and some omegas of the pack came over to fuzz over Danny, amazed at his technique to make Steve come four times. But after fifteen minutes they were left alone.</p><p> </p><p>“It could be worse, I think. At least no one tried to touch us when we were in the middle of it,” Danny replies. “I don’t know how your dad did this two times.”</p><p> </p><p>Steve snorts.</p><p> </p><p>“Well…my dad liked both uncle Joe and my alpha sire. Uncle Joe and my dad served together, and I don’t know how but he also fell in love with Doris. My grandfather wanted him to mate with Joe because he was also a Navy man, but he didn’t oppose it,” Steve explains. “I think grandpa Steve didn’t oppose because they were an alpha, beta, omega trio. I don’t think he’ll have had the same opinion if there wasn’t an alpha in the equation.”</p><p> </p><p>Danny sighs and snuggles closer to Steve.</p><p> </p><p>“Your dad is a badass omega, tho.”</p><p> </p><p>“I think I mated a badass omega, too,” Steve grins at him.</p><p> </p><p>“We’re already mated, you don’t need to flirt with me,” Danny says, and he’s smiling, nuzzling at Steve’s neck.</p><p> </p><p>Steve just smiles at him, hugging him closer, scenting his hair.</p><p> </p><p>Life couldn’t be more perfect. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you made it this far, thank you so much. I hope you liked this fic!!! </p><p>Let me know your thoughts, and thanks again!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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